Two-striped Forceptail in SW Arkansas

4 years ago, I found the first Two-striped Forceptail in Arkansas at the Okay Levee, Millwood Lake. Until today, the handful of others that I located at the same site were so skittish that I could rarely get within 30 feet before they would zoom away. I stalked this male for about 10-15 minutes before it finally relented and patiently posed for me. I wish the sprigs of grass weren't there but it took me 3 years and 120 or more mile to get this image and, until I get a better one without grass, I'm a happy camper.

Technical info: Date: 8/2/09, Time: 9:16:32 AM, Camera: NIKON D3X, Lens (mm): 300mm f4 Nikon + 1.4X Nikon teleconverter, ISO: 200, Exposure: f14 @ 1/250, Exp. comp: -2/3, Nikon SB-900 @ 0 comp, Evaluative metering, Manual Mode, White Balance: UniWB preset, Adobe RGB (1998).

Lovely capture. Your patience certainly paid off. The grass stems are not a distraction.

Very nice Charles. You have honed your skills well with these subjects.

I'm not sure how others feel but I think I'd clone out the catch light in the eye. Since the eyes are such a dominent feature the white speck detracts a bit IMO.

Wow nice macro image Charles. The color and sharpness are excellent as is the subject. Did you pay him for modeling!

I have to humbly disagree with Wayne. I think the catchlight does it's job nicely here.

I like a catch light in a birds dark eye but here the coloration of the eye is so captivating that I want to see it uninhibited. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Maybe we could impose on you for a version of this shot without the catch light for comparison?

My Photoshop skills are kind of shake but maybe this will be sufficient. I kind of like the catch light. Perhaps in the spirit of compromise, I could leave it in but toned down some?

I may be the only one but I prefer the image without the catch light. Irregardless of this minor point, this is a fine image. Thanks for the repost Charles.

Sorry to be so late commenting on this fine shot, but wanted to say how nice it is. I tend to like the catchlight in the eye, because of the other reflections along its tail. Removing it does seem to make the image a bit unnatural.