In order to satisfy my penchant for environment images and not just in your face wildlife portraits I decided to have a crack at this 'PKF' taking off from his perch with catch fish in beak. The bird was +/- 30 paces away. There were two other togs seated next to me in the hide; one with a new Nikon D800 and both tog's had Nikkor 500mm f/4′s and they refused to take this shot as it was “too far away”… A 36MP Full Frame Camera and a $6,000.00+ “Professional Lens”. Good Grief :) … and here I am with a DX Nikon D7000 16MP DSLR and (admittedly) a very sharp Sigma 100-300mm f/4 (effectively a 150mm-450mm) making it work for me, with some cropping. It’s not as pixel peeping crisp as it might be if I were sitting on the branch with the bird :) but it will print nicely and hang on my wall.
At least my image will be unique online :)
Here is a close up of the PKF
Taken during a long weekend wildlife photo-shoot in the magnificent Pilanesberg Nature Reserve, a Big 5 (Rhino, Elephant, Lion, Leopard, Buffalo) Game Reserve about 2 hours drive North West of Johannesburg. We stayed at the Bakgatla Campsite in the North of the reserve which was busy due school long w/e but sufficient and affordable. It was hot, in the late 30's and early 40's C(90-110 F) It is a popular destination for wildlife enthusiasts particularly birders.
Any comment or critique; complimentary or critical are welcome and appreciated.
Questions about gear, technique etc. also welcome.
. . . It's interesting that the spots on the birds head look like eyes at this angle.
I had the same thought - indeed it wasn't until I read Ann's comment that I realized the white wasn't around his eyes. And it took a moment for the fish to register - I first thought beak and then how on earth LOL Intriguing from the get-go, even better once I had it all sorted out.
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