On my recent brief trip to South Africa I had a morning at Rietvlei Nature Reserve near Pretoria. The weather didn't co-operate too well with rain and no sign of the sun. This brought out a hatch of flying ants in an area that had the birds excited. A mob of widows with the males molting into their eclipse plumage and bedraggled in the rain makes quite a contrast to Chris van Rooyen's summer breeding image.
Nikon D700
Nikon 500VR+1.4x
ISO800 1/320 f5.6 matrix +0.3
Nikon SB900 - 1.3EC
HH from vehicle
Yes, they have a very different look in non-breeding plumage but they are still beautiful. In this image I like the soft and nice light, the rainy day mood, perch, Bg and head turn. Tony I would be really happy with this one :)
Hey Tony, whilst I was tucked up in bed, you braved the rain.;) Nicely framed, and I like the pose and HA. Lovely Rietvlei BG too. Sorry the weather didnt play ball that day - pity.
Hi Tony, A lovely image. The composition is very nice. I like how the plant frames the bird. In my opinion the horizontal stem at the bottom helps balance the frame. Nice pose with a good head angle. The splash of red/orange of the bird adds interest for me. The simple background displays the bird nicely. Adding some black to the blacks and neutrals in selective colors to is the only suggestion I have for this very nice image. Thanks for sharing.
Neat plumage. Love the light and the colors. Just a shade too much of a head turn: I much prefer 90 degrees for the over the shoulder poses. Did you make any wider ones with the bird in the llc :)?
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Thanks for the comments and advice, everyone. Artie, I have one image with a degree less head turn but not as parallel as you would like. This is pretty much full frame and as low left as I could get him- I was working through a narrow gap in vegetation and a wider view was obstructed by larger OOF FG elements
Thanks for getting back to me. I still like the image!
BIRDS AS ART Blog: great info and lessons, lots of images with our legendary BAA educational Captions; we will not sell you junk. 30+ years of long lens experience/e-mail with gear questions.
BIRDS AS ART Online Store: we will not sell you junk. 35 years of long lens experience. Please e-mail with gear questions.
Check out the new SONY e-Guide and videos that I did with Patrick Sparkman here. Ten percent discount for BPN members,
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