Image created on the Okavango River ,Botswana.
The birds nest in the banks of the river.They continuously fly out across the river,hawk insects in flight and then swoop back to their nests.Their rapid flight makes it difficult(and too restrictive) to shoot from a tripod from the river bank . After studying the flight paths of these aerial jets ,and shooting handheld ,one does manage to get a few successful shots .( very exhausting after a while ,holding a 500mm lens and concentrating!)
The bg is the river. Shot in partly cloudy conditions ,with the sun peeking through occasionally.
Canon MkIV
500mm f/4
1/1600
f/7.1
ISO 640
Exp Comp +1/3
Metering: Evaluative
Handheld ,from the river bank
Hi Arno, good flying posture with the extended wing. Sharp, and I like the eye contact, together with the bug in the beak. You have brought out the colours nicely in this.
An extraordinary shot of a flying rainbow; congratulations. Your story gives us a taste of the struggle you must have gone through to achieve this stunning shot.
Love the sharpness, the details, the colorful color, the wing up position and the diagonal line of the bird. The back ground looks pleasing as well, and the food is a plus. An excellent image, your hard work paid off well, congratulation!
Thanks everyone for the constructive comments and advice.Alway appreciated.
Ken, I find your comments interesting.By intermediate ISO do you mean between , say , 400 and 800 ?
I have not come across this comment on the noise and would like to know more.
Regarding the bg ,I ran a gaussian blur on the bg ,but could do more NR. Thanks.
Tom , I would estimate the subject distance to have been 20 -25m.
Joerg , I agree ,a liitle more canvas at bottom would do no harm.Easily done. Thanks. :)