Carmine bee eaters

[davidedric]

This is a carmine bee eater. To my mind, one of the loveliest birds I know - though they are small birds and don't hang around much for photographs. They nest in large colonies in holes in river banks towards the end of the dry season. The second image is my attempt to show the colony: the colour and the movement, but a difficult subject I think, especially the focusing.

As always, C&C welcome.

[davidedric]

I can't get the second image into the first post!

[Wavelength]

True... i too had mentioned the same opinion elsewhere; they are the cutest birds i have seen

[Karm Redland]

Dave, I like the colony shot a lot. Just some suggestions. I would reduce the saturation of the river bank a bit to more sharply bring out the birds' colors. Play with the riverbank's luminance, saturation, and hue to make the birds' color standout more. If possible I would also get rid of the bird that is landed (far left). The pattern of the birds flying is pretty cool. The stationary bird adds nothing to the flying sequence. And finally, the bird on the far right if you can recover its head would really complete this image. (I'm sorry if this sounds like an overload of suggestions.)

karm

[JPS]

Hi Dave,
very nice pictures of lovely birds.
I agree with Karm, in relation to No.2. I tried his suggestions to see what it looked like and IMHO it does work.
Thanks for sharing.
John

[Brownbear]

Yes, indeed a very beautiful bird and your images are also very beautiful. I adore the 2nd image and I also like the landed bird (perfectly photographed).. He/she is just is doing his own thing.

Recovering a head sounds very challenging to do... Maybe just crop a little bit from the right side (and the bottom to balance the crop) and heal/clone where needed?

[Dave Humphries]

Now Dave, be honest - you didn't find these in Cheshire, did you?

(and besides, who ever heard of a dry season here)

Curiosity point:
Is the second (at least partly) a sequence of the same bird?
Or are they all different birds captured in a single exposure?

The first is certainly a capture I am envious of; beautifully sharp.

The second is a good attempt at showing the colony, although I'll admit my thoughts were along the lines of Karm's, however the perched bird doesn't worry me too much.

Cheers,

[davidedric]

Now Dave, be honest - you didn't find these in Cheshire, did you?

Damn - rumbled. These are carmine bee eaters - southern race, in Zambia on the Luangwa river. The local safari lodge had created a hide, which made viewing much better but had a temperature well into the 50's . They are all separate birds.

If anyone (in the UK) is interested there is a current "live" BBC tv programme with Kate Humble focusing on the end of the dry season in the Luangwa valley. http://www.katehumble.com/current-pr...and-simon-king

Anyway, thanks for your comments and suggestions. I've had a go at the desaturation, and I'd like to know what you think. My usual weapon of choice is Lightroom and the TAT in the HSL Panel. However, unfortunately the colours of the bank are also present in the birds, so instead I used Nik Viveza and multiple control points (it seemed much easier than trying to paint the bank in LR).





And for interest, this is a wider view of part of the colony - but I can't see a decent picture there.

[Wavelength]

WOW...but this image defies my sense of scale...how such small birds look so big.... or is that hill wall too small, that is enlarged ?

[Karm Redland]

Hi Dave. I think you got the level of saturation right. The image looks more natural and I think the birds standout a bit better. However, what do you think? I still think the static bird on far left breaks the flow of the image. Just for curiosity, crop it out and see if you like it better or less. Just a suggestion.

karm

[Dave Humphries]

Dave, Thanks for your honesty
(and answering the other question)

#4: Now that's what I call a "target/subject rich environment"