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Thread: White-headed Stilt (Himantopus leucocephalus)

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    Default White-headed Stilt (Himantopus leucocephalus)

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    Taken a few weeks back. I went to that pond before sunrise knowing that I would find some magic golden water at that time :)

    Getting the Stilt calling in front of me was a great bonus and even more than I hoped for :)

    for more OZ stuff and infos, check my Blog

    1D Mark IV
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    Lifetime Member James Salywoda's Avatar
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    Stunning image Jan!!!!! Love the open bill nicely done....

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    Wow! Great shot! The open-mouthed pose is excellent. I love the colour of the background and how it almost seamlessly blends into the water.

  4. #4
    Bryan Hix
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    Oh wow, this is outstanding. One of the best Stilt photos I have seen. Love the calling pose, sharpenss, and BG colors are fanastic.

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    Truly magnificent, Jan !! Must be the air Downunder !!
    Best regards
    Rod Warnock

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    Sharp with great detail and DOF, beautiful bokeh, absolutely superb

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    Amazing! Absolutely stunning. Love every single thing about this image, the bg colors are beautiful, the open bill, the perfect exposure, sharpness and composition.

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    Simply fantastic, Jan. I'm bookmarking this one and using it as my bird photo gold standard (no pun intended)...

    John

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    I like everything about this one. Great work on the blacks and whites...everything else...well, it's a no-brainer.

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    Macro and Flora Moderator Jonathan Ashton's Avatar
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    Absolutely magnificent! The light the subject colours composition, detail, pose - first class, I take my hat off to you!

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    Stunner..

    I'd be tempted to try and even out the blurred background tones so I didn't have conflicting light and dakr areas...then this would become wicked awesomely stunning :)

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    WOW. Incredible image. One of the best portraits I've ever seen posted here. Maybe it's just me but it looks like the image could use a bit of CW rotation as the water line seems to be a tad lower on the left side. Brilliant work, though. Congrats.

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    Lifetime Member Marc Mol's Avatar
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    Simply superb Jan, it's great when a plan comes to fruition.
    The colour, exp, open beak and still cond's are spot on!
    TFS


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    Jan, what else can be said? This is just beautiful. I'm guessing you had to run some noise reduction on the background. Is this correct? Or is the Mark IV really that clean at ISO 800?

    Cheers,
    Greg Basco

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    Avian Moderator Randy Stout's Avatar
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    Jan:

    Superb. Big congrats.

    Randy

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    Michael Bertelsen
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    Smokin image Jan, I could look at that one all day long.

    Michael Bertelsen

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    DanWalters
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    Like the open bill and the soft warm colors in the water.

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    Lifetime Member Stu Bowie's Avatar
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    Sweet light Jan, and perfectly timed to get the open beak, together with the protruding tongue. Killer BG too. Well captured.

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    Forum Participant Manos Papadomanolakis's Avatar
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    One of the best Stilt photos I have seen...killer pose bg...color!!!

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    BPN Viewer Pieter de Waal's Avatar
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    Stunning image Jan, The exposure of black and whites beautifully handled. I like the subtle ripples and to me the different tones of the gold background give the image a sense of depth. Congratulations.

  21. #21
    Ákos Lumnitzer
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    Great BG and like the open bill and nice details in the plumage. If you are near a breeding pair/colony or are getting close to their comfort zone in general they will yap forever so it's relatively easy to capture the open bill motion. :) Also, you may have an old book for ID as this is Himantopus himantopus. The revision to the Australian Bird Checklist by Les Christidis & Walter Boles (2008) treats H.h. leucocephalus as a separate species AFAIK. :) Congrats on a super image!
    Last edited by Ákos Lumnitzer; 10-29-2010 at 08:07 PM.

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    Himantopus himantopus is the European Bird. This is the Australian Stilt species...

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    Publisher Arthur Morris's Avatar
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    Though I would like to see a bit more room for the virtual feet or a vertical, this is absolutely luscious. The open bill, the tongue, the golden water, and the concentric ripples. In the soft light I am surprised that we do not see the red iris a bit better. With you exposing for the whites perhaps it would be a good idea to lighten the iris. You might wish to lose the tiny speck floating on the right side of the frame. A nice angle to the bird and a nice head angle as well.
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    Lifetime Member Doug Brown's Avatar
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    Stunning image Jan!
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    Ákos Lumnitzer
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jan Wegener View Post
    Himantopus himantopus is the European Bird. This is the Australian Stilt species...
    Thanks for the ID education Jan.

    Naturally, taxonomy is never going to be a perfect science and different authorities will have different opinions. However, I am Australian and I - as well as most other Aussies - use the list that has been accepted Australia-wide and that includes Birds Australia, an organization of which I am sure you have heard of by now.

    Obviously you don't use an accepted Aussie list, which will probably create some confusion from time to time. That's all. :) Cheerio! Safe travels and keep up the good work with the photography! :)

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    very true Ákos, I aways stick to the IOC list, to have my taxonmic list on my website in one (official?) format...
    Indeed, I ran into some coinfusion here, because the Australians use different names quite often...

    It's not up to me to decide what is wright and wrong :) Would be interesting to find out, though.

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    Stunning image. Colors are lovely, sharp, lowe angle, open beak, toung....fantastic. Well done.

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    BPN Viewer Haim Ziv's Avatar
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    Absolutely stunning image.

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    A perfect image Jan.

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    It just does not get any finer. Smashing image!

  31. #31
    Ákos Lumnitzer
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    The picture is what matters Jan really. And it's a beauty (as we say). :)

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    Excelent, bg, light, the open bill, great image.

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