Immature Bateleur

[Hartmut]

Hi i am new to this forum. Got this lucky picture in the mahango national park. C and C welcome.

[dem]

Nice catch. Maybe add more contrast and crop tighter so the bird is much closer to the right edge.

[Rebel]

Nice catch. Maybe add more contrast and crop tighter so the bird is much closer to the right edge.

+1 to this, lovely capture though.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Hartmut,

Welcome to the CiC forums from me.

I agree with the previous comments - it is a great capture - yes luck often plays a part with wildlife shots, embrace that when it happens
As you obviously know, there are plenty of times when it doesn't - e.g. why does the perched bird (almost) always fly away from the camera?

Apart from the welcome, the purpose of this post is to explain the reason why Dem suggested cropping some off the right edge (in case you don't know - and besides, it may help others).

At the moment, the subject is pretty much dead centre of the shot and is looking towards the left edge of the shot, his/her eye is already slightly to the left of the centreline, so it is what we often term 'looking out of the shot'.

If this were mine, I would crop almost 15-20% (width) off the right hand edge and some 5% (height) off the bottom edge.

This would position the subject over toward the right hand side, they would now be looking 'in to the shot' and the body would be on the right hand thirds line, with the eye close to the upper right thirds intersection.

If you need it (sorry, I don't know your level of knowledge), do try the Rule of Thirds tutorial here at CiC.

All the best, Dave

[Ziggy]

Welcome to the forum Hartmut. Interesting looking bird and some good advice from the group.

[Barbara Ponder]

Nice capture! Welcome and I look forward to seeing more of your work. I would agree with the others suggestions.

[Shadowman]

Nice capture.

[DougR]

Great shot Hartmut! Welcome to the forum.

[bnnrcn]

Nice capture, welcome to the forum

[Hartmut]

Thanks very much for your comments. Looking at the picture after your comments it makes a lot of sense.
Thanks for the welcome.

[Wandjina]

Great shot Hartmut! Welcome to the forum.

+1 from me, Welcome

[IzzieK]

Welcome to the CiC, Halmut...are you related to Helen? you have the same surname...

Anyway, beautiful shot of a beautiful bird...