African Jacana (juvenile)

[Morkel Erasmus]

We were on a mission to photograph kingfishers from a small boat on a pond in the South African Lowveld, but I couldn't resist capturing my first decent jacana images from a low angle in golden light.

All comments welcome...

Techs:
Canon 7D with 100-400mm L IS USM
f8.0 @ 1/400 SS @ ISO-160

[Colin Knight]

The bright bloom in the background is quite distracting. Great angle, action, pose and comp!

Why f/8?

Thanks for sharing!

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Morkel,
Gorgeous bird, sharpness, light, pose, angle ...
Especially love that awesome raised foot. Very cool.
Like just about everything here.
I personally could've done without the lotus (?), especially the color in the ULC.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Morkel, loved the low angle, light, pose, details and comp. Also like the choice of f-stop as the whole bird is covered perfectly in the DOF. Terrific shot.

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks guys. f8 was to get whole bird sharp and the mother as they were both feeding together (she is out of frame here). I specifically wanted shots with the violet lilies as they complemented the scene for me.

[Gary Irwin]

I also like the comp & and lighting -- good crop. But I find the lilly distracting in it's location.

[Fabs Forns]

Beautiful bird and pose, with great sharpness. I personally would have like more separation between the bird and the lily.

[Tony Whitehead]

I like the pose and light, Morkel. The lily in the BG could be toned down a bit which would reduce it's influence while retaining it as a habitat element. May be worth trying another raw conversion just for the bright part of the bloom and they layering/masking it into the image.

[Stu Bowie]

Hey Mork, if this image is anything to go by, with your new camera, we are all in for a treat. I rate this one of your best to date. The low angle, light, detail and sharpness, all tops mate. I do agree the lily is a tad distracting. Overall, congrats on a grand image.

[Peter Hawrylyshyn]

Morkel
Love the bird (pose, colors, details, ...) , but not a fan of the water lilly. Too close to the bird and i don't find that the bright pink/lilac colors complement the overall colors of the bkgd and bird

[Joe Senzatimore]

If I may , I cast my vote for removing the lily. I feel it hurts what is otherwise a beautiful image. I like some habitat in the shots sometimes , but the very white spot just takes the eye away to a place where it shouldn't go.:(

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks for the feedback everyone. I won't clone out the lily as I still like it and prefer to stay away from cloning out distinct elements in the shot. I did do a rework now where I healed the very bright spot on the lily stem and burned the highlights on the lily and its reflection some...

[Peter Hawrylyshyn]

Morkel
The repost looks a lot better .

[Ken Watkins]

Morkel,

I did not know they had ponds in South Africa:)

I do not mind the lillies at all it would generally be hard to get an image of a Jacana without one, saying that I might still "remove" the one on the left.

[Chris van Rooyen]

Great posture and sharpness Morkel, and angle is particularly good. I would darken the lily slightly, I find the bright flower slightly distracting.

[Kiran Poonacha]

The repost works great bhai, very beautiful light, nice angle and pose too,,, loved that raise foot..

[Ofer Levy]

This is lovely! The flower has to go IMHO and would add some more room to the right.

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks for the comments everyone...

[Arthur Morris]

Sweet and killer bird, pose, and the raised foot with those toes is to die for. Two problems. The major one first; as I wrote in ABPII in the chapter on Advanced Composition and Image Design: a strong vertical element in the center of a horizontal frame is almost always an image killer. It (the lily bud) does so here. ''

In addition, and I realize that I am alone here, the seemingly ideal head angle here (square to the back of the camera) is less than ideal here. Why? With the bird's body angling towards us the head needs to be angling towards us as well, at least a bit.... In other words, the head needs to be on at least a bit straighter....

ps: Do love the low angle also and the repost is better...

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks for the honest critique Artie...will look through our session with this guy and see if there are pics with cleaner surrounds, but I'm pretty sure this one shows the toes best :)

[Arthur Morris]

YAW Mork-man. Had you been away for a while or was I? :) I critique ever image as if it were my own. :) No excuses, no breaks for newbies, just the image. :)

And yes, in this one, the toes are the bomb!

[Morkel Erasmus]

I wasn't away, was just waaaay behind on capturing decent avian images and processing those I did have...trying to catch up now...I have always been very active at least in wildlife and landscape :)

[Arthur Morris]

It is good to see you back in Avian bud.

[Morkel Erasmus]

It's good to be posting again.

I would love your feedback on this one, which you missed since I returned to posting to this forum :)

http://www.birdphotographers.net/for...ad.php?t=62911

thanks in advance...