This is a big crop and have more wrong than right in it. These busy bodies feed out of reach and I shot him well knowing that the image would not amount to much due to size. I was however pleasantly surprised with this image and could not get myself to bin it. It really looks as if they are giving each other the eye and I like the little tongue close to the mouth of the fish. Hope you like it too!:)
MK III
600mm + 2x Convertor
1/2000
f/8
ISO500
Last edited by Gerrie van Vuuren; 08-16-2009 at 11:12 PM.
Reason: Bad spelling.
You should have heard me when I just opened your post. Wow. WOW. Yes, the big crop shows but it's still WOW for the action and relative sharpness. Some of the PP gods here could probably turn this into a killer image. Congrats, JR
That's pretty incredible. I'd keep this one too. The pattern of the reeds is a nice backdrop for so much color and action. I think I'd just knock down the noise in the blue background a little.
Clever title Gerrie, and agree with you that the MK's tongue shows up very well against the fishes mouth. The colours look natural, and overall, well done under the circumstances.
I agree that doing some more NR around the bird you can make it stand out even more. Have you considered a slightly larger composition (since it's a big crop) to preserve IQ? love the tongue and eye contact and would definitely love having it in my collection...
That's very cool Gerrie, never mind the crop, though it shows a bit of noise. I masked the KF and fish, ran some NI on the BG. Then inversed selection and applied a little levels adjustment to the bird (slighltly darkened blacks and midtones), then sharpened with smart sharpen 126/0.3 (then reduced to 40%). Then applied a 1pixel refine edge. And removed the lower catchlight. Hope you like.
It's a marvelous catch for YOU both! :)
Wow WOW!! My rule of thumb is that I would never dump an image if it tells a story. Forget about the resolution and all the technical aspects of this image, it tells a story and does it well.
Thanks for sharing and I am glad (should I say envious ;) ) you were present to see this in person!! One of my favorite birds too...
Yep, very cool image. Great timing. While the background isn't ideal, it is real. These "environmental" shots work. I like the repost very much. You've done well with the 2x to keep the detail
Thank you for viewing & commenting everyone. It is much appreciated. I like what you have done Akos. Guess I'll have to invest in a post processing course.