Black Drongo on Sambar

Gallery: WildlifePosted January 29, 2011171 views12 comments

Hi all. I thought I would share a few wildlife photos from the recent tour I led in Thailand. Here's a Black Drongo on the back of a female Sambar. This drongo was flycatching from the back of the deer. As the deer stirred up bugs by moving around the drongo would sweep down and catch them. Originally the sambar had it's head down and I was on the drongo with only the back of the deer and the bird. The doe wheeled around to have a look at me and I was able to recompose and fit her in. I would have liked to stop down as well to get her eyes in sharp focus but I didn't have time as I only got off 2 frames before she put her head down to graze again. It's full frame, no adjustments other than levels and sharpening. The iso and shutter speed may seem a bit high for being on a tripod but I was trying to get flight shots of the drongo.

MkIII 500F4 1.4x 1/1250 F7.1, iso 800, Feisol 3472 tripod.

Comments

12 comments

Comment posted by Barbara Graham on January 29, 2011 at 1:06 AM

Good job with composition on such very short notice, and great background.

Registered on July 27, 2010, 1310 Posts, 5035 Comments

Comment posted by Oscar Benavides on January 29, 2011 at 5:28 AM

Great composition. IMHO to have the face of the deer not really sharp makes me focus on the bird so it leads me to believe that the main actor in the image is the bird. For me the picture as you captured works perfectly.

I'm not sure if you understand what I mean.

Oscar.

Registered on January 2, 2011, 12 Posts, 141 Comments

Comment posted by Jagdeep Rajput on January 29, 2011 at 9:50 AM

Very interesting frame and equally interesting POV !
Jagdeep Rajput

Registered on April 29, 2008, 686 Posts, 2857 Comments

Comment posted by John Tobias on January 29, 2011 at 10:24 AM

I like that you were able to hold detail in the black bird w/o loosing it elsewhere. Thanks for sharing.

Registered on September 12, 2009, 2120 Posts, 6455 Comments

Comment posted by Luke Ormand on January 29, 2011 at 10:38 AM

Too bad your f/stop couldn't have been f/22 to capture this whole thing sharp! Real cool image though and I like the look on the Sambar's face

Registered on February 4, 2009, 1093 Posts, 7035 Comments

Comment posted by Brad Hill on January 29, 2011 at 2:09 PM

Hey Nate,

Interesting shot as posted - great concept. And the pose of BOTH subjects (and their framing) is really good (and that is so tough to do). I love the positioning of the Drongo in the frame, but, in my perfect world, would like to see just a tad more room to the left of the deer's ear. But that's a trivial nit.

The depth-of-field here is, to me, the interesting thing to discuss/debate. If the goal of this shot is to draw more attention - via selective focus - to the Drongo (which seems to be what you focused on), I would argue that you have a little too much DOF. My reason for saying this is that the way the light is striking the nose of the Sambar - and those whiskers on its chin - makes those regions appear in pretty sharp focus and almost draw attention to the fact that the eyes aren't. But, if you were able to stop down enough to sharpen those eyes and ears (and if this is full frame that might have been a tough task), then there might be confusion about what the subject of the image is (Sambar vs. Drongo). Decisions, decisions!

But interesting as heck to think about and thus a great image post! Thanks for sharing it...

Brad

Registered on May 29, 2007, 431 Posts, 6061 Comments

Comment posted by Lon Sharp on January 29, 2011 at 2:10 PM

Exposure on that difficult, dark drongo looks spot on perfect.

Registered on December 9, 2007, 258 Posts, 9892 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Archer on January 29, 2011 at 6:49 PM

Sweet inter-action here Nate, I like the drongo's mid chew expression. Even without more depth it is a strong image.

Ken Archer

Registered on October 28, 2004, 222 Posts, 6683 Comments

Comment posted by Sally King on January 30, 2011 at 12:28 AM

I like the interaction here and the light is gorgeous. I don't mind the slightly OOF eyes of the sambar but I do see what Brad is saying. I still find it an intriguing image to study.

Registered on December 2, 2008, 416 Posts, 4450 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Canuel on January 31, 2011 at 1:02 AM

I think this works better than just a bird and a deer butt Nate

. The BG is nice and creamy, the bird really pops from the frame, and the sambar is sharp enough to see everything you need to see about the face.

Registered on September 12, 2010, 53 Posts, 660 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Hackley on February 1, 2011 at 12:02 PM

Very cool Nate. I like the image as is because my eye goes right for the bird then checks out the rest of the image. The drongo looks very sharp with good detail so good reaction with the little time you had to compose. How often do you get a chance like that, two for one. Well done.

Registered on September 17, 2009, 302 Posts, 5535 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Huff on February 3, 2011 at 2:40 PM

A very interesting shot Nate, I really like it. Great detail in the bird and good pose by the deer.

Ron Huff

Registered on August 31, 2010, 69 Posts, 440 Comments