Long-tailed Widowbird

[Chris van Rooyen]

I captured this image last year, not been out a lot this year unfortunately. The widows have since lost their spectacular breeding attire, as we are fully in the southern winter now.

Camera Model: NIKON D3
Date/Time: 2009:12:23 06:226
Shutter speed: 1/2500 sec
Aperture: 7.1
Exposure mode: Manual
Flash: Off
Metering mode: Multi-segment
ISO: 1800
Lens: 600mm

[Randy Stout]

Chris:

What a tail. Beautifully exposed, with nice detail in the blacks. Sharp. Nice wing position.

I am intrigued by the soft almost foggy background look. Anything done special there?

This bird looks so much like our red wing blackbird, with a tail on steroids :D

Cheers

Randy

[Chris van Rooyen]

Hi Randy, thanks for viewing and commenting. Nothing special on the background, just a slight Gaussian blur (radius 2.5).

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Pretty cool, I like the light, sharpness, pose and BG. It really is amazing how much this species resembles the Red-winged Blackbird and it looks as if he got the tail from a much larger bird. :)

[Danny Laredo]

This is really nice Chris, I love the detail you managed to get out of the black and the flight pose is super.
you did a wonderful job getting the whole bird in the frame.

[Arthur Morris]

Wing, tail, and feet position perfect. And the eye visible. Killer light and BKGR. Did you enter this in the 2010 BBC contest?

See you at Bosque. (Chris will be a guest co-leader on this year's 7-day Bosque IPT. 10% off for BPN members:))

[Jan Wegener]

stunning flight image :)

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Just awesome Chris !!!!! Incredible timing and action !!!

[christopher galeski]

its all been said,magic capture chris,thanks.

[Colin Knight]

Wonderful, Chris! This isn't the first of the widows you've posted is it? I think I remember seeing one from you some time back. It certainly made an impression on me!

Very nice capture. Thanks for sharing this species (again?)

[Stu Bowie]

Great capture of the widow bird Chris. Was this at Rietvlei? Superb flying posture, and you nailed the exposure. With regards to you using a gaussian blur on the BG, did you apply it to the whole BG, or just the lower half, where the grass is. Just interested to know.

[Ramon M. Casares]

Nothing else to say but simply outstanding Chris. Light, Pose, BG, ambient, exposure, details, colors and species are awesome! Big congratulations on a terrific shot.

ps: Although this one show more detail on the bird, I like better the other one you shared with us last year ;) Again, huge congratulations!

[subhrashis]

Must say again, : what a tail!

[arash_hazeghi]

pure magic

[Ken Watkins]

Only one word for this, MAGNIFICANT!

[Kiran Poonacha]

Its just superbly right bhai.. cant say anything more...

[Juan Aragonés]

This one is outstanding Chris :eek:

[Haim Ziv]

Amazing shoot!

[Joe Senzatimore]

It's all been said. Just stunning. I thought a Red Wing Blackbird with a hair extention.;)

[Tony Whitehead]

Great job, Chris. Love the soft grass seedheads in the BG. Plumage detail is superb.

[Ofer Levy]

OMG this is just too good!!!!!:eek::eek::eek:

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Chris, I thought that previous image of this bird was really great...this ain't too far behind either. Stunning. The grasses in the BG take this waaaaay over the top.

[Michael Wolf]

A simply stunning capture.....BEAUTIFUL!

[Chris van Rooyen]

Thanks guys, I really appreciate everybody commenting. I have really missed being on the site this year.

[Chris van Rooyen]

Stuart I added the blur to the whole background, its my usual technique for ensuring a smooth noiseless background. Artie, I missed the deadline for BBC this year...:o

[Morkel Erasmus]

a splendid image Chris - exposure, pose and light are top drawer. hope you get to go out more as the year drags on!

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

What a bird and tail!
Not much to add, just beautiful work. Congrats Chris.

[Ajit Huilgol]

Wow! This has to be the stunner of all stunners!

[Troy Lim]

Stunning shot.

[Rahul Sachdev]

What an Image!!...lovely background and great details in Black..

[Lana Hays]

Magnificient!!!

[Tobias Hayashi]

Stunning work!! I love the wing position, perfect!! Great composition and the soft background brings the bird very nicely out of the settings. Awesome work.

[Harshad Barve]

this is amazing image Chris , inspirational photography
TFS

[Chris van Rooyen]

Thanks again to everyone that commented on the image, I really appreciate you looking:) Morkel, indeed, I'm off to the Kgalagadi in two week's time, eish, about time....;)

[Doug Brown]

A real stunner Chris! Excellent stuff!