Violet Sabrewing displaying tail

[Melvin Grey]

A beautiful male Violet Sabrewing showing his tail to full advantage. Taken on a trip to Costa Rica, hosted by Doug Brown and Greg Basco.
Camera: Canon 1D Mk 1V EF70 - 200mm f2.8 plus TC1.4 ISO 320 aperture f16 Multi flash set-up - three on bird, one on BG.

[laurie golden]

Wow! This is a shot of a lifetime in my opinion.

[Melissa Groo]

I agree with Laurie on this. Spectacular capture. The wing position, the head angle, the fanned tail, those colors. Just fantastic.

[Gary Esman]

Incredible shot, the detail in the white feathers is outstanding. Huge CONGRATS.

Gary.

[Doug Brown]

Beautiful fanned tail feathers with nicely controlled whites. Excellent detail. I never did get a satisfactory answer from CPS regarding your question.

[Frank Schauf]

A great dynamic and colorful image, congratulations.

[arash_hazeghi]

this is fantastic well done!

[annmpacheco]

Took my breath away. I'm sure you didn't "just snap this one!" Congrats, what a stand out image.

[gail bisson]

WOW! That is worth the price of the workshop alone! No Nits from me,
gail

[dankearl]

Outstanding!

[Peter Seidel]

Terrific - just love those deep shades of blue. Feather detail is great. The only thing I might change is the exposure on the bird - the flash filled in all the details very nicely, though it seems a bit harsh. Not sure what the best way is to subtly soften that in PP, but that's the only thing I'd change (and only slightly).

Killer image - thanks for sharing.

Pete

[Arno Ellmer]

Absolutely superb,Melvin.The posture ,colours,wing and tail spread are stunning.

[Melvin Grey]

Not quite sure what you mean Peter, but thank you ALL for your comments.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Melvin, what a shot. masterfully flashed I must say to protest the whites. great BG and wing position.

[RAM MALLYA]

This one of my dream shots amazing action captured with lovely BG and details of the bird.