Bee-eater and bug

[Juan Aragonés]

Hi all, I apologize for my lack of participations in the past week. Lately, it is difficult for me to find enough free time to be here so I try to compensate on saturdays when I have more free time.
This is a huge crop (4Mp) of an eurasian bee-eater (Merops apiaster) in flight. The dark spot at the right of the bird is not a bunny dust spot but a fly or somekind of bug.

I am not very happy with the broken tip of the central tail feather but, after breeding in their sand tunnels, many bee eaters have broken tips in their feathers.
Not my best image of bee eaters from a technical point of view but I love the pose and soft light on this image.

As always your comments and critics are really apreciated :)

Nikon D300, AFS Nikkor 500VR, ISO800, f7,1, 1/1500s handheld

[Randy Stout]

Juan:

I understand about the time issue!

I think you have hit the high and low points of the image. The effects of the crop do show, but the colors,action and bug (bee?) still make it a very enjoyable photo. The birds head position in relationship to the prey is great, you know he is after it, not just a coincidence!

Thanks for sharing.

Randy

[Amy Marques]

Hi Juan. I totally agree with Randy. Plus the high key look to this makes it stand out like a painterly illustration- my absolute favorite style. This is certainly one for the wall! ;)

[Thanaboon Jearkjirm]

Yes, I agree the fly/bug really add to the image. The bird sure looks like it is going after the bug. The broken tail feather does not bother me.

[Deborah Harrison]

Juan -What makes this picture fabulous in my view is the subtle colors. The tail feather is irrelavant, that's nature and frankly I wouldn't have noticed is specifically if you hadn't pointed it out!

[Brian Barcelos]

Juan, Very nice overall. Love the "chase" you caught and the wing position is sweet. I wonder if just a little bump of contrast might make this pop a little more. Congrats.

Brian

[Doug Brown]

Great pose and eye contact Juan. Like the even light. I'd like a bit more contrast in the bird.

[Markus Jais]

I like that a lot. Great wing pose and the head looking upwards towards the prey is great, too.

Markus

[Stu Bowie]

Juan, Im glad you left the bug in the frame, as it adds to the flying posture of the BE. Colours look good, and well captured.

[Morkel Erasmus]

very nice pose and colours captured here Juan - like the effect against the bright BG of which I'm not usually a fan. pin sharp where it counts.

[Ramon M. Casares]

You preety much said it yourself Juan, although I wolud've left more room on top I like it as presetned too, the pose and natural moment are terrific. Big congratulations Amigo.

[Lance Peters]

Juan - love the high key and the contrasting soft pastely colours of the bird. Tail feather doesn't bother me....
I would be plenty happy here Juan - gorgeous as presented.

[Diego Torrentes]

Hi Juan:

These birds are really difficult to track when they are hunting, but they could gives us excellent flight poses. You've got a beautiful one, I'd like a little more sharpess and contrast but it almost impossible with such type of light. I'm looking forward to see the next.

Bye,

[Roger Clark]

Hi Juan,

Beautiful image. The chromatic aberration around the edges with the bright background might be fixed during raw conversion. I'm not sure what raw converter you are using, but CS4 has a simple interface for making this correction.

Roger

[Chris Kotze]

Super flight angle and lovely colours.

[Juan Aragonés]

Hey Roger, good that you pointed out the CA, I didn´t noticed but you are right. I use CS4 and I will try to fix the issue :)

Hi Juan,

Beautiful image. The chromatic aberration around the edges with the bright background might be fixed during raw conversion. I'm not sure what raw converter you are using, but CS4 has a simple interface for making this correction.

Roger

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Looks good to me Juan. A difficult image to capture for a start, head pose is great, don't mind the broken tail. Congrats mate. :)