Spent yesterday morning with Mr Gerrie van Vuuren at the Mankwe Hide in the Pilanesberg National Park...can't believe I haven't been there more frequently before but then again it is more than 3 hours' drive from my home.
Got some decent Kingfisher action, but oftentimes too far from the hide. This was close enough for this to be nearly full frame. The BG is as shot, OOF mountains (which is one of the things that makes Mankwe a great place for avian photography).
Techs:
Canon 7D with 100-400mm L IS USM @ 400mm
f5.6 @ 1/2500 SS @ ISO-800
Exp +0.7
Last edited by Morkel Erasmus; 07-29-2010 at 04:37 AM.
As always Morkel a great image. It's amazing that although these are common where you are it can be quite difficult to get great images of them. The BG, eye contact and perch are to die for. Great crop
thanks for the comments everyone...Axel during processing for web I noticed that another round of sharpening makes the bird appear too "crisp" :)
Chris - can't believe YOU haven't been there...can only imagine what you would walk away with from there...I would say after 2 days of driving through Pilanesberg it's worth just sitting at Mankwe hide and Rathlogo hide the entire time as the bush very dense and inhibits good general game viewing (unless the animals are in the road), and the birding is just spectacular at Mankwe.
I don't think anyone mentioned the composition and framing, which in addition to everything else makes this such a great image. The opposing diagonal lines and the balance seem really exceptional to me.
Hey Mork, well timed for the take off, and I like the forward wing positions. Im glad you left the perch in, and agree, sharpening the head will work. Another great Mankwe BG.
Great job, Morkel. I got one in almost identical pose from the same perch in April - only difference was BG had shades of green! Mankwe is a great spot.
Very nice capture, although I must admit the perch does not relate to me as the one where he took off from?
Don't listen to an old lady's ideas if it is :)