Little Bee-eater

[Steve Kaluski]

This little guy flew straight past us and by the time we hit the anchors he had perched up some distance away. Slowly we back up, but he/she was still a distance away, plus shooting behind, craning to get position is not ideal. This is about a 50% crop, even when using the 500mm lens!!!

Steve

Subject: Little Bee-eater with food in beak (Merops pusillus)
Location: Botswana
Camera: Canon MKIII
Lens: 500f/4 - HH
Exposure: 1/800s at f/5.6 ISO400 0 stop compensation
Time of day: 9.27am
Crop: 50% crop (original capture horizontal)

[Dumay de Boulle]

Great to see the catch and I am a big fan of LBE's..Great perch and pose. Unfortunately IQ has not held. There is a lot of noise evident on the bird and im not sure if its from the crop and sharpening or because of trying to lighten the front because the subject being backlit. Also the eye has been overdone and looks artificial. I must attest to the difficulty of trying to capture these guys, very small and very fast. Colors look pretty much spot on.

[Steve Kaluski]

This is why Dumay I shoot and crop in camera, rarely do I crop more than 10% of the original, so 50% is going to highlight any noise. Re the eye I did chuckle, I quickly change that as it seemed too dark and just nudged it a fraction, so think I will revert to the original. Sadly the MKIV was on the 70-200

cheers
Steve

[Daniel Cadieux]

I like the subject, BG and huge prey item (or is it that these birds are very small!). I agree with Dumay, and there is also an abrupt change in sharpness when comparing the neck and brest to the wing and belly. Tough situation you had here.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Daniel, good call. I tend to work now at 50% for the MKIV and got into that mode, MKIII I feel needs to be at 100% so you don't miss anything. Cheers, trust this now address both eye and chest, Dumay the eyes is now, as is, but still not great due to crop/noise.

BTW Crop is slightly bigger compared to the OP.

Steve

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Steve, I cant believe how large that fly is. Your repost pretty much sorts out the eye and chest area, and agree, you have nailed the colours nicely. They also stand out against the grey BG. Never had the opportunity to shoot a little Bee - Eater yet.

[gail bisson]

The repost looks great. It addreses all the issues raised. I love the bug! Very nice BG and I like the curve of the branch,
Gail

[Daniel Cadieux]

Steve, the overall sharpening is much better on your repost with natural continuity on the plumage. I do think the eye needs more work though, so I took the liberty of tweaking it. I used the burn tool to darken the pupil, and a combination of sponge tool and selective colour to enhance the red iris. Hope you like!

[Steve Kaluski]

Cool Daniel, no problem with a re work as it has developed the image in the right way, thanks.

However, I just wonder if the 'perceived look' is somewhere between the two, but I am most grateful for the input and will have another look at the RAW later, nice to see the old darkroom habits transferred into the modern world of Digital.

Cheers
Steve