Swallowtailed Bee-eater.

[Marc Mol]

Swallowtailed Bee-eater.
Khwai region- Botswana.
Would have wished for better lighting conditions.
Small upper LH branch removed.

D3 500VR 1/3000s ISO400 f/4.

C & C most welcome
Cheers
Marc

[Hilary Hann]

I think you have made the best of the light giving this portrait quite a delicate feel. I don't know whether you could have added a touch more saturation … I like the graduated background. Lovely bird.

[Harshad Barve]

You have done best in given lighting , nice pose , HA & lovely BG
TFS

[Tony Whitehead]

I love the graduated BG and sharp focus. Light not ideal - flash and BB may have helped but would have had limited range at that SS. Looks a touch oversharpened on my monitor.

[David Fletcher]

Light mentioned, and can only add "dealt with very well". Head angle helps to as shadow of beak flows through the head nicely. WD!

[arash_hazeghi]

Beautiful BG, colors and details on the beak, head and chest area, wish you had stopped down for full dof on the tail.

[Brian Barcelos]

Love the colors on this bird and nice look back pose. BG is great and a good size perch. Agree with your self critique. You still did good with the light condition. Congrats

[LouBuonomo]

You handled the light well, you may have been able to balance it with a little flash. Botswana is on my travel list for sure.

Lou

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hi Marc,
shadow mentioned as was a bit more DOF. I think the greyish part.....at the top of frame could also be cropped out for my tastes....keeping the bg mostly tan.

[Arsdel Fluesmeier]

Very simple and well composed. Color is also very good. Excellent.

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Ditto about this been a great looking bird. Light, sharpness has been mentioned. I also agree about cropping a tad on top. Thanks for sharing.

[Arthur Morris]

Roman beat me to the depth-of-field punch.... With the bird angled away from you and all that light, f/4 was not a good choice.... I like the head angle and the pose. Not only was the bird off-angle to the light but the light was on the harsh side.