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Thread: Malachite Breakfast

  1. #1
    Lifetime Member Stu Bowie's Avatar
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    Default Malachite Breakfast

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    In keeping with my own theme of kingfishers and their catch, this malachite showed me that he preferred something else other than a fish. Im not sure what type of bug he has caught, but he went about the same way as he would have done with a fish, by bashing it against the perch. The BG is water. Taken on my previous visit to the Pilanesberg National Park.

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    F/6.3
    ISO 640

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    Hand held
    Last edited by Stu Bowie; 03-01-2012 at 09:56 AM.

  2. #2
    Brendan Dozier
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    Love the pose with prey, beautiful light, IQ, and colors, Stuart. Awesome techs, like texture to perch, but it seems to overpower bird a little bit.

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    Wow!!! Very cool shot. Real nice nice light, great pose and detail, and very well composed.
    Well done.

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    Amazing light, beautiful bird and terrific image design.
    Prey takes this over the top.
    Superb IQ, as always. Excellent work, Stu.

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    Looks like dragonfly larva to me, that bird must be quite small. Love the red feet.

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    Super Moderator arash_hazeghi's Avatar
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    nice light and a great prey, good details, the perch is a bit big for the bird, I'm wondering if you can set up your own perch?
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    Macro and Flora Moderator Jonathan Ashton's Avatar
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    Stu - a fine shot. Looks like a large dragonfly larva to me too. Beautiful colours and exposure, as ever to see the bird doing something enhances the image. I see the composition is roughly with the rule of thirds convention and I think it is probably the best for this image. As you know composition is not one of my stronger suits but I do have slight reservation over the big empty space under the branch. I am just wondering if the bird would look any better if it was lower in the frame?? There would then be a big empty space above the bird but it would be mostly into the direction he was facing - WDYT? The other alternative would be more panoramic but I like this shape.

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    Really great pose and colours.

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    Lifetime Member Stu Bowie's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by arash_hazeghi View Post
    the perch is a bit big for the bird, I'm wondering if you can set up your own perch?
    Thanks Arash. This location is totally in the wild, and just this last sunday when I was there, I saw a medium sized crocodile gliding across the water. Having said that, Im not venturing anywhere near the water to place any perches. Unfortunately, all the trees around the hide have 'larger' sized branches/perches, so most of these images will have perches too large for the subjects, even the larger kingfishers.

    Thanks to everyone else for the kind words and feedback.

  10. #10
    Brendan Dozier
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    I was wondering about a vertical crop as another option, to reduce the amount of perch in frame? WDYT?

  11. #11
    Ken Watkins
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    Stuart,

    Very nice, cerainly one I would like to have.

    I agree that the bug is probably a Dragonfly Larvae, I once drained a small lake in my French house to get rid of nasty weeds, and there were loads of these. they are vicious looking beasties.

    Glad to hear you are not using artificial perches, there are enough sticks about allready

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    Great light, pose, colours and composition, Stuart. The food item and the behavior described is a great plus.
    I like them all but seen only three species so far.

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    I'm quite fine with the perch, especially since it doubles as a tenderizer. The bird is wonderful as is the prey, glad to see as many of these as you care to share!

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    BPN Member dankearl's Avatar
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    Your IQ is over the top here, Stuart.
    The focus of the bird and prey is so good, I don't know how you
    get so close to these.
    Very nice.
    Dan Kearl

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    Lifetime Member gail bisson's Avatar
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    Hi Stuart,
    I like this. Great catch by you and the kingfisher!! Good IQ. Perch problems already addressed. Don't let a little crocodile get in your way! Aren't us photographers supposed to do ANYTHING to get the shot!!
    Gail

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    Great work, Stu. I like everything about this image, even the large perch, which serves to show that the malachite is one of the smaller kingfishers. Thanks for pointing out the presence of crocodiles.

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    I like the IQ, pose, catch of the day and composition. Well done Stuart!

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