Longtailed Widowbird

[Stephen Earle]

Another widow from the Rietvlei nature reserve near Pretoria, South Africa. I went for an unconventional crop and a wider view. All comments appreciated.

1DMKIV
ISO 800
F 5.6
1/3200

[Arno Ellmer]

Superb,Stephen.
I like the posture of the bird and the detail in wings and tail ,with good low angle light, as well as the HA.
Including the environment adds greatly to the image ,imo.

[Thanaboon Jearkjirm]

Look sharp and very good details in the black. Personally I like this more than the close up one, I think the OOF environment add to the image, especially the pink flowers. The one in lower left helps anchor the empty space and the OOF ones add to grassland background. TFS

[Clemens Vanderwerf]

Very nice image and well exposed. Ideally would be nice if the bird was flying the other way (to the left). The flower in the left corner balances the composition, but that fact that it is OOF does not really work for me personally. I would also loose the sharper grass in the bottom right corner. Nice capture and BKG!

[John Guastella]

Fantatic image of an unbelievably exotic bird! I really like the BG, which has an impressionistic feel, except for the flower in the LLC. I would actually like to see that flower more blurred, to fit in with the rest of the BG. I would also remove (or darken) the vertical strand of grass above that flower.

What does this bird do with its extravagant tail when perched?

John

[arash_hazeghi]

Fantastic, this bird is really cool with that long tail, wish to see one up close some day!

[Stephen Earle]

Thanks for commenting everyone. Valuable input indeed. John the tail hangs down vertically when perched or else it just blows in the wind.

I like some of the suggestions made and will repost another version tommorrow as it is almost midnight here in South Africa.

[Stephen Earle]

Oh well! Did a quick cleanup job of the bg and blurred the oof flower some more. Any better?

Now I'm off to bed

[Bryan Hix]

I like the cleaned up version better. These are just awesome looking birds. Nice job on capturing the action and the exposure looks good to me.

[Mark Young]

Repost looks much better. They are a great bird with their extraordinary long tails.

[Patrick Sparkman]

Fascinating bird. I like the composition. The open space and flower provides a balance to the bird, and the S-curve shape of the tail and bird are the clincher.

[Harshad Barve]

rocking image
TFS

[Joerg Rockenberger]

Love the background and the flowers. And what amazing pose of the bird. Great details in the blacks and sharp as well. Congrats. JR

[Tom Rambaut]

post two is the one for me.

I like the comp of this shot - works for me.

[Stephen Earle]

Thanks everyone. It seems my late night effort was not in vain.

[Daniel Cadieux]

The original looks good...the repost looks great I love the unconventional crop you chose, and yes the flower balances it out and helps it work. Awesome flowing lines to the tail.

[Laurie Snidow]

Very nice image, I agree with the comments in general. The composition works and the second posting is my preference as well. The pink flower in the lower left really adds to this image.

[James Salywoda]

Stunning Image!!! Beautiful composition as the pink flowers really add a nice touch to this image.