I'll Stamp on you!

Water Rail.
Nikon D300
Nikon 500ml F4
F8
iso 500
1/1000.

C&C Please.

A lovely bird, Keith, great pose, but the background is a bit distracting, the harsh light hasn't helped.

Unsure as to why you were shooting at ISO500 in light like that - you could have dropped the ISO and shot at a much wider aperture to throw the distracting background out a bit more.

Greg

Thanks Greg most helpful comment must say the light was very harsh and was not sure how to deal with it.

Thanks Keith

Aren't they beautiful? Well done capturing this shy bird.

Edwin Kats

Hi Keith I would tend to agree with Greg re the BG & harsh light which sadly there is very little you can do. I might have been tempted for a lower POV, but then you would lose the reflection which is rather nice, so I think you have picked the better option. ISO 500 is a little odd based on how much light you had in the shot, however, this might help, perhaps? Always make sure you use a shutter speed no slower than the reciprocal of the focal length of the lens you're using. For example with a 500mm lens, go no slower than 1/500sec.

Steve

Hi Keith,

Very shy and elusive, the bg doesn't bother me at all as it is typical habitat, I guess you could if you so wished tone down some of the brighter parts. I am not too fond of the square format here and would perhaps lose a touch from the top and bottom, also it does need a little CCW rotation (draw a line from the eye of the bird to the eye of the reflection)

Detail looks good and the raised foot is the icing on the cake.

Lovely image showing this hard bird to see in it's natural habitat,beautiful markings and reflecton,very nice image

Yes there are points that could be improved, but I would be very happy with a shot like this. Now you can move on to the better ones, but it's a cracker to use as a starting point. Well done on a bird I still have to see, let alone photograph.

Very nice shot of a very elusive and skulking bird Keith


I would tend to agree with most of the nits covered but its not always easy to choose a lower POV or choose the background. That is the type of habitat they live in and to find one in the open with no cluttered background is not too easy.

I might be partly to blame for the iso setting. When Kieth first started, I advised him to keep the camera on 4-5 hundred ISO as an emergency setting if anything unexpected turned up,
That's what I do. There are obviously times when some adjustment is needed but its not always that easy in the heat of the moment. I dont find the back too bad. It needs some rotation left and the gamma dropping a tad in my humble opinion.The bright bit of reed going down into the birds head also draws my eye. Nit picking but that'swhat you all say you want.

Cheers
John

Nice timing, good subject and a habitat shot, to boot.

I agree with Phil H about the composition and a slight reduction is brightness and contrast would improve the shot. A 'keeper' for sure.

Cheers,
Chris

nice picture of a very secretive bird

Thanks a lot for your very helpful comments i will certainly take them on board,afraid i could not do anything about the lower pov ,shot taken from a public hide.
John it's your fault iso 500 joke!!!
Cheers Keith.

A number of nits already covered. That reflection is great and it is better than any water rail shot I have got. If my measurement is correct, you do need to rotate the image a few degrees anti-clockwise.

David

I think you have a good collection of comments here and I don't feel I can add to those so I will just enjoy the image how you've presented it and look forward to more.

Brett

Ditto the above !
Robert

Nice one Keith - not an easy bird to get in a perfect setting. Like it very much.

Hello Keith.

Grat shot of a not so easy bird and just love that reflection.

Keith that reflection raises the shot up a grade thats for sure well captured

You have managed to capture a picture of a very shy and elusive bird in natural surroundings very well with the raised foot and reflection adding to the overall picture. A picture that many would be very pleased with I being one of them, well done.

Dave

Thanks to you all for your very constructive comments.
Keith.

Lovely image! For me, one simple thing would take it up a notch - try taking out the bright yellow/gree leaves above the bird's head - the eye then is taken straight to the bird.