Love Birds

[Johan Kruger]

Ok, they not love birds, they are a Crested Barbet pair. I was a little far away so big crop, didnt want to try get closer and disturb the "action" :)
Canon 50D , 300f4L + 1.4tc, f7.1 exp 1/1600 iso 640. Just after 4 in the afternoon.

[Dave Leroy]

Very interesting looking birds.
They don't look like a pair you would want to meet in a back alley!

Good to see an eye on each.

The shadow does distract some from the nice pose of the pair.

It looks like a smaller aperture for more dof was a possibility as well.

I think a smaller crop would also have worked for the pair and still retained interest.

Dave

[Joel Eade]

Hi Johan,

I have never seen this species presented before, thanks for sharing.

I agree with Dave, because they are in shadow and with a large crop your IQ is suffering some,

You might be like me...my longest lens is 300mm....makes it more challenging to get close enough for optimum sharpness.

Joel

[Johan Kruger]

Dave, its a small little woodpecker , very cute little fellows. It is unfortunate about the shadow. Will try smaller crop.
Joel, yeah currently 300 + 1.4 is what I have to work with, did not want to disturb them by getting closer, took few closer shots when the one left.

Thanks for commenting.

[Julie Kenward]

I agree with what the others have said...you can tell you've lost some of the finer details here because of the crop. I also think with such a clear BG I'd have stopped down more in aperture. I also think seeing the entire branch inside the frame would help this compositionally - I'm not sure I like how the bottom half below the birds has been cropped away.