Pied Take-off

[Rudi van den Heever]

Location: Mankwe Hide, Pilanesberg, South Africa
Date and time taken: 08H25 on 8 October 2011
Equipment: Canon 7D and 500mm F4 L lens
Settings: 1/4000s at F5.6 and ISO 800

[Mital Patel]

Rudi,

This is wonderful shot and you clicked nice series. wish the HA was a bit better towards you. compo wise there is some extra space on top you can go off of that.

[Ron Sprunger]

Terrific shot. Agree with Mital that cropping just below your signature to a pano looks even better to me.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Rudi, easy to do, but transpose the space top & below, ie more space below, less above. Think the weight would help the overall comp. Like the pose & perch, bird has good detail. Did you lighten any of it?

TFS
Steve

[Nico Steenberg]

Great take off pose and timing to get this. Nice and sharp where it need to be. Ditto H/A. Like the Mankwe bg and comp. Nice MR van der Heever

[Jonathan Ashton]

Very nice shot indeed, I would go along with Steve's suggestion regarding crop/composition.

[Arthur Morris]

I need to be the odd man out here. While I love the background the bird is angling away from you and the pancake wing position is about the least attractive option. Does not work for me.

Note to others above: while we want everyone to be nice we need everyone to be honest in their critiques.... The discussion on space above and below is fine but it really will not matter with the head turned away and the poor wing position..... I do not mean to be harsh Rudi but folks need to be a little more frank if folks are gonna improve.... Gang, get with the program. Our goal here is for folks to improve; BPN is not a popularity contest/great shot forum....

[Ron Sprunger]

Artie, we rely on you for the serious critique Seriously, while I've learned a lot in this forum the past couple months, and it's helping me make better images, I don't have anything like the experience and expertise necessary to say whether HA and wing position disqualify an image.

[Arthur Morris]

Artie, we rely on you for the serious critique Seriously, while I've learned a lot in this forum the past couple months, and it's helping me make better images, I don't have anything like the experience and expertise necessary to say whether HA and wing position disqualify an image.

Ron, You are a pretty decent photographer; me thinks you are selling yourself short. I might be wrong but from where I sit I see folks pulling their punches to be nice.... I try to lead by example but I do need help and lots of it. Compare this one with some of the others of this species..... Again, I am not trying to insult Rudi; I am trying to help him and others improve...

[Rudi van den Heever]

Thanks for honest comments and advice everyone!

Steve, I have lifted the overall shadows in CS5 a tad and did not not target any specific spots. I am using a levels adjustment layer as standard in my post processing at the moment, to give the images some more "pop" as suggested by you in earlier posts and I am pretty chuffed with the results!

Arthur, I would not have been on BPN if it was just another social forum and if I wanted a lot of well done's! I have learned a lot in the little time I have posted on BPN and take any advice to heart. Your critique is appreciated and noted. I am aware of the fact that the PK is angling slightly away from the camera, and that the wing position is not ideal...

These take-off's are happening in a split second and poses like this with the PK still touching the perch are not captured everyday - I think that is the beauty of the image, if any...

Steve, I will try your comp as suggested and post it later for those that want to compare...

[Arthur Morris]

Rudi, Thanks to having an open mind.

[Rudi van den Heever]

I could not do much about the angle of light and the wing position, but followed Steve's suggestion about the comp, did not lift the overall shadows as much and some small other tweeks... What do you think?

[Ron Sprunger]

Rudi, it's definitely a more effective comp, and to my eye it looks as if you've sharpened the head and eye a bit. I like it.