Posted by Simon Hawtin on October 18, 2006 at 1:36 PM
A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to have one of these perch in the open at Leighton Moss just for a few moments.
It caught me by surprise as some were on grit trays in front of me at a distance. This one was close behind me, so it was a case of shooting with whatever settings I had at the time - hence the odd settings. I was on HSC so the first few frames and all had cropped tails – luckily I remembered in time.
Slight crop to left and top. Left the tiny bit of feather in its beak – well it was there and I am not that good with PS.
D2x 500mm + 1.4x, 1/800sec, f6.3 iso 400.
Cheers
Simon
Posted by Phil Shaw on October 18, 2006 at 1:51 PM
Nice grab shot; shame about the bling.
Posted by John Gardner on October 18, 2006 at 1:51 PM
Beautiful light, shame about the rings on the legs and they would be difficult to clone out. I would, however, clone out the reed stem intruding into the picture bottom right.
John
Posted by David Kjaer on October 18, 2006 at 2:16 PM
Cracking light and BG - I agree with John re cloaning out the other stem and I would also tone down the stem he is on!
Hi well I've got a image of exactly the same bird today along with a few of his friends although the light wasn't quite as good as yours, a nice image of a difficult species to get a good image of.
Phillip.
Posted by Kevin Lewis on October 18, 2006 at 3:04 PM
I've heard these but never even seen one, let alone photograph one. Lovely looking bird nicely captured
Posted by Rob Fisher on October 18, 2006 at 3:27 PM
Simon,
Great shot.
I've spent a lot of time on the causeway at leighton moss trying to photograph these though gaps in the reeds. With no results.
Rob
Posted by Paul Williams on October 18, 2006 at 4:04 PM
Nice grab. I've only ever seen one of these, we had a boat on the top pool at Leighton moss a couple of years ago taking sediment samples, one just popped out and looked a tad shocked to see us before realising it had to go and hide. They are a lovely bird.
What striking birds these are, and well done for getting such a good,clear shot of one,in nice light too and with colour co-ordinated rings on too.
A nice shot for your files.
Discussion
12 repliesIt caught me by surprise as some were on grit trays in front of me at a distance. This one was close behind me, so it was a case of shooting with whatever settings I had at the time - hence the odd settings. I was on HSC so the first few frames and all had cropped tails – luckily I remembered in time.
Slight crop to left and top. Left the tiny bit of feather in its beak – well it was there and I am not that good with PS.
D2x 500mm + 1.4x, 1/800sec, f6.3 iso 400.
Cheers
Simon
John
David
I was thinking.
I'd be very happy with this if it were mine....
John
Phillip.
Great shot.
I've spent a lot of time on the causeway at leighton moss trying to photograph these though gaps in the reeds. With no results.
Rob
A nice shot for your files.
great shot and I agree with the other comments.
John
Aberdeen
Tony