European Roller

[Gary Jones]

Shot in the Kruger National Park from a vehicle using a bean bag. It was overcast so I went up on the exposure comp.

Camera Model Canon EOS 40D
Shooting Mode Aperture-Priority AE
Tv( Shutter Speed ) 1/1000
Av( Aperture Value ) 5.6
Metering Mode Evaluative Metering
Exposure Compensation +2/3
ISO Speed 400
Lens EF500mm f/4L IS USM +1.4x
Focal Length 700.0mm
Flash Off
White Balance Mode Auto
AF Mode AI Servo AF
Picture Style Neutral

[Aiden Blake]

Really nice looking bird as it has such wonderful colours. I'd be tempted to boost the contrast with a levels adjustment deepening the blacks and pushing the whites up more. It feels flat to me.

Also, if you expanded your canvas and cloned in detail for the top and screen right I think the composition would improve slightly.

[Markus Jais]

I like this a lot. Composition works well for me. Great head angle. I agree with Aiden about boosting the contrast a little.

Markus

[David Thomasson]

I took out the twig at lower right, though it isn't a major problem.

Some nice color and details lurking in this image that can be brought out with some curves and selective color adjustments. I think it's
worth playing with a bit. Very nice capture. I like the perch.

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Wonderful repost by David. Lovely bird and pose. Excellent head angle and killer BG. Congrats.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Gary, hope you had a great trip, and the weather played ball. I was in kruger this time last year, and remember that these guys were very abundant. Super pose, with a good HA. I agree with the others, a little more contrast to boost the colours. David's repost looks good.

[Marc Mol]

David's excellent repost had addressed what I was going to say. A very pleasing image, good color, detail & BG.
TFS

[niranjan sant]

lovely bird,its on my wishlist for a very long time. they are winter migrants to india. as far as image goes,light is soft and nice but its more colourfull that in this image. may be you have play with some tools to bring out the real beauty in the image.excellent pearch and bg

[Gary Jones]

Thanks for the input. Dave, I like what you've done with this!!