Red-winged Take off

[Stu Bowie]

When visiting the Pilanesberg nature reserve, i normally come away with various kingfisher take offs. Well on my last visit, I was more than happy to time this Red-winged Starling take off. Of course, the pied kingfisher in the same frame minding his own business was a bonus. I went for a vertical comp here, as my original comp was unbalanced with too much space on the LHS.

Canon 50D
100-400 @ 250mm
1/2500
F/5.6
ISO 500

Exp Comp +0.67
Hand Held

[Randy Stout]

Stuart;

That is one showy starling! Looks like our red wind blackbird on steroids.

The two birds in one frame really shows how small the kingfisher is. Difficult exposure because of the blacks, reds and whites. Two nice head angles. I might like a bit more space added back onto the left?

Cheers

Randy

[Kiran Poonacha]

pretty picture this Bhai, both birds are nicely in focus, good pose on both birds... nicely done with that light condition..

[Hendri Venter]

Lovely double mate. One don't often get two species with both sharp and good head angles in one shot. I like the wing position of the Starling showing the colours nicely.

[denise ippolito]

Stuart, A little tight in the frame but WOW! Nice bonus! Also the fact that they are both looking at you was a plus. Nice flight pose for the starling too!:)

[Austin Thomas]

That is just showing off Stu !! Two in the frame, both tack sharp with catchlights and good head angles.

Excellent stuff.

Cheers

Austin

[Stu Bowie]

Thanks a lot guys and Denise. Here is a repost with more space on the left.

[Scott Frye]

Great photo and what a contrast in colors with the orange and iridescent colors on the starling and the black and white on the Kingfisher. Is a treat to look at

[Martin Wallis]

Agree with others on 2 great head angles. Great to have both in perfect focus too. Awesome!

[Peter Hawrylyshyn]

Stuart
An excellent photo - great exposure, shaprness, HA's, ...
Based on the above comments, i'm probably in the minority, but just to give you another perspective - to me, if your objective in the photo was to show the RWS in flight, i'm not sure if the kingfisher adds to the overall image, and personally prefer the RWS in in the photo by itself cropped midway between the 2 birds.. If the objective was to show two interesting species of birds, i'd present the photo as shown.
Either way, very nicely done and thanks for sharing

[Arno Ellmer]

Hi Stu,
Great capture , timing and comp with the PK.Would try a repost as Peter suggested -- the RWS starling alone ,to show it in all it's glory , as shot.

[Stu Bowie]

Stuart
An excellent photo - great exposure, shaprness, HA's, ...
Based on the above comments, i'm probably in the minority, but just to give you another perspective - to me, if your objective in the photo was to show the RWS in flight, i'm not sure if the kingfisher adds to the overall image, and personally prefer the RWS in in the photo by itself cropped midway between the 2 birds.. If the objective was to show two interesting species of birds, i'd present the photo as shown.
Either way, very nicely done and thanks for sharing

Thanks Peter. My intention was to focus on the take off of the starling, and just felt it was good to have the kingfisher in the same frame. I do see your point along with Arno, that having the starling by himself would work. I dont have the next frame, so will keep it in mind for my next comp, should this ever arise again.

Thanks to everyone else for all the feedback and comments. Always appreciated.