Interaction - Mid Air Fight

[Lance Peters]

This was a tough one - action lasted only a few seconds at most - was working at 800mm so finding the action in the viewfinder was difficult - action was 40 feet away at most.
Only frame with both birds clear of the tree that was on the LHS :(


D3S
Sigmonster @800mm
F11
1/1500TH
3200 ISO
-1.7EV
Aperture Priority
Matrix Metering
Tripod

Desaturated the blown reds.
Removed a OOF tree from the LHS of the image.

Comments welcome :)

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the head angles and interaction and am surprised that the colors are not more vibrant. I might sharpen the back of the bird on the right more.

[Michael Hogan]

Lance, Another good shot - love the BG. I would agree with Axel, some more sharping might improve it. You do get great results with that lens. I had a Sigma 150-500 and could never get good results. Changed it for a Canon EF500 and at least some of my images improved (I think ;))

TFS

Michael

[Stu Bowie]

Good timing to capture this interaction, and the colours stand out so well from the light sky BG.

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Beautiful interaction and awesome timing Lance to capture this. Really like this a lot !!!

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Well done Lance, looks like an air ballet.

[Gerrie van Vuuren]

Great action capture! Like the head angles & catchlight in the eyes. Well done!

[Fabs Forns]

Very cool action, I know what you mean about finding them in the frame LOL Good timing to catch good angles and catchlight, plus dorsal view and showing the beak interaction. Way to go!

[Michael Zajac]

Good action shot with incredible timing.

[Harold Davis]

looks like a midair embrace!! really neat! nice job catching the action!!

[Danny J Brown]

Lance - a very unique, colorful and "interactive" shot. Good choice for this theme. You caught them just hanging in mid-air.

DB

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

This is really unusual. Congrats for catching the moment Lance.

[Michael Stern]

Amazing image...I know very difficult to get both birds sharp with the fast movement...
Thank you for sharing...
Mike

[Troy Lim]

Hugging in the air, that is a real tough shot.

[Bill Jobes]

Exquisite interaction, Lance. This ranks among my very favorite aerial action photos.

It looks like they're dancing 'beak-to-beak.' :)

[Lance Peters]

Thanks for the kind words ;)

[Kiran Poonacha]

WOW lance some moment this.. great feel to the image and the colours adds so well with the BG.. well done..

[Tony Whitehead]

Great catch, Lance. I like the open bills and eyes with catchlights. Eastern Rosellas are breeding very successfully in NZ now and I see them often but haven't seen any interactions like this - well done.

[Lance Peters]

Great catch, Lance. I like the open bills and eyes with catchlights. Eastern Rosellas are breeding very successfully in NZ now and I see them often but haven't seen any interactions like this - well done.

Hi Tony - thats great to hear - I suspect this sort of interaction happens quite a lot - but maybe rarely seen - I am lucky to have a dead tree across the road from me with lots of possible nesting holes - so suspect this was a territorial dispute. They do tend to spend a lot of time high up in the canopy of the tress.

[Doug Brown]

Stunning image Lance! Well done!

[Ofer Levy]

Pretty amazing image mate!!!

[Hendri Venter]

Nothing more to add but to congrat you on a very special image. Very well done!!!