Pale-winged Starling (Namibia)

[Morkel Erasmus]

I created this image in Namibia at the Fish River Canyon. These guys are nicely adapted to survive in this desert climate. This one had a face full of pollen and let me get quite close (probably hoping for a free meal).

Techs:
Canon 1000D with Tamron 70-300 Di Tele-Macro
f7.1 @ 1/640 SS @ ISO 400

[Ramon M. Casares]

Amazing species (for me at least :D)
Nice light and expposure, great low anglem nice pose and colors.
A tad more room on top and a little less on the right would've improved comp IMO.
Congratulations Morkel.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Definitely a species I'm not familiar with, either. I like the angle, light and pose and wish for a bit head turn towards you. On my monitor it looks as if you applied too much S/H. If not, increasing contrast might work. I find the piece of grass in the lower left a bit distracting.

[Brian Barcelos]

Morkel, Lovely image of a bird I'm not familiar with. Love the angle you took and the DOF works well here. The pollen mustache give this guy some character. I like Ramons idea for the comp. Congrats

Brian

[Fabs Forns]

Agree a little darker may look better and more room on top for the bird to look at. Amazing pollen :)

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Hey Morkel
Feels a touch tight in the ULC. Otherwise HA is good, almost perfect. Black areas appear a touch noisy. Still a great species and nice surroundings. Thanks for sharing mate. :)

[Daniel Cadieux]

Ditto suggestions above. I would also tone down the dark OOF band that is running behind the head. Cool looking bird - I love the rufous lining on the primaries (I imagine this shows up very nicely when in flight?)

[Stu Bowie]

Super low angle Mork, and you have captured good detail. I like the hint of pollen on the face, and stands out nicely against the BG. Well captured.

[Ryan Lambert]

Good image here Morkel, the low angle adds to the image, maybe a bit off the right would strengthen the comp...

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks so much everyone for your comments and suggestions.

I decided to give this a total rework based on your suggestions. Herewith my result - showing much more naturally the black plumage. I added some space on top and in front to look into, cut some off behind, applied linear burn to the blade of dead grass on the ground which was blown (did not have time for cloning it out, and the surface is very intricate so it'll take a while).

I am pleased with the exposure on the bird as it was too light - thanks for pointing out. This is what BPN is all about.

Any further suggestions most welcome.

And yeah - the feathers show up nicely in flight, unfortunately I couldn't get a decent flight shot with my slow Tamron lens (on that 5-day hike through the Canyon you pack light - and the 100-400 L wasn't gonna make the grade on top of my 20kg backpack :))