Enter at your own risk

Gallery: AvianPosted April 11, 2011221 views17 comments

This is a picture of Blue Tailed Bee Eater about to gulp a Dragonfly.

The Bee Eaters first beat the prey to death and then toss them in the air to catch the dead prey with the head facing the throat. I was lucky to capture this precise moment.

Comments

17 comments

Comment posted by Karen Summers on April 11, 2011 at 12:28 PM

wow this is a stunner

Registered on December 3, 2009, 83 Posts, 818 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Canning on April 11, 2011 at 12:36 PM

Great capture! Looks as though the dragonfly is flying right into the bords mouth! There is some pattern duplication in the BG that you might want to try re-masking

Registered on February 10, 2004, 88 Posts, 549 Comments

Comment posted by Jenaya Launstein on April 11, 2011 at 1:35 PM

That's just awesome! Great timing, and there's even a catchlight in his eye!

Registered on February 8, 2011, 254 Posts, 1302 Comments

Comment posted by S Govindarajan on April 11, 2011 at 2:06 PM

Excellent capture, Murali! You timed your shot perfectly.

I like the comp of this image. The simple perch and the location of the bird in the frame both add a lot to this image.

The background looks like it has some artifacts. Was there any cloning/pp work on it? Also what focal length is this?

Registered on April 19, 2008, 115 Posts, 1921 Comments

Comment posted by Keith Bauer on April 11, 2011 at 2:11 PM

Awesome timing on this. I might crop a bit tighter to emphasize the action. Not sure what is going on in the background. It looks like some strange cloning aritifacts??

Registered on November 20, 2003, 458 Posts, 4836 Comments

Comment posted by Murali Santhanam on April 11, 2011 at 2:40 PM

There was a band brown earth on top that I cloned out. Here is the image without cloning.

Registered on July 31, 2008, 43 Posts, 331 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Bielefeld on April 11, 2011 at 2:46 PM

I much prefer the version without the cloned BG. No need for any cloning IMO, the natural BG is great. Nice mid-air dragonfly. Would love to see a larger version so I could judge critical sharpness and detail better. Overall, a very appealing image.

Registered on December 6, 2008, 360 Posts, 7132 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Archer on April 11, 2011 at 3:22 PM

I'm with Ron, I like the second version better. The brown strip makes the image more pleasing to look at. The action you captured with this great bird is incredible Murali, I might be tempted to crop it a bit tighter. Sweet Photo as is though

Ken Archer

Registered on October 28, 2004, 222 Posts, 6683 Comments

Comment posted by Oscar Dewhurst on April 11, 2011 at 4:23 PM

Wow - fantastic

Oscar

Registered on August 6, 2009, 85 Posts, 502 Comments

Comment posted by Rick Lundh on April 11, 2011 at 5:56 PM

What perfect timing!!! Super lucky...great shot!

Registered on April 28, 2004, 774 Posts, 4351 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Dudley on April 11, 2011 at 8:36 PM

Neat shot Murali. I like the action and your excellent timing. I too prefer the version without cloning and IMO the image is too small for effective critique - a significant amount of the 720 pixel image is taken up by the black frame.

Registered on March 30, 2007, 437 Posts, 10915 Comments

Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on April 12, 2011 at 12:32 AM

Perfect moment!
Any chance for a larger version so we can see detail better - or is this a very large crop that will not stand up to a tighter image?
Great colors, pose, BG and comp.
Sandy

Registered on November 24, 2003, 3937 Posts, 12909 Comments

Comment posted by Murali Santhanam on April 12, 2011 at 1:26 AM

Have not posted in NPN for quite some time, Hence I forgot to add a larger version. I will post the larger version separately tomorrow (after the 48 hours). The cropping was minimal.

Registered on July 31, 2008, 43 Posts, 331 Comments

Comment posted by Ashley Vincent on April 12, 2011 at 6:21 AM

Excellent catch Murali, a truly stunning image, very well done :^)

Registered on March 1, 2011, 154 Posts, 2083 Comments

Comment posted by John Tobias on April 12, 2011 at 7:24 AM

Great timing, very good image. Thanks for sharing.

Registered on September 12, 2009, 2120 Posts, 6455 Comments

Comment posted by Mia McPherson on April 12, 2011 at 2:49 PM

Murali,

I much prefer the natural background, I feeel the band of brown earth adds to the image rather than detracting from it. Great pose, action, light and eye contact. I look forward to seeing your post with the larger version to see the details and sharpness better.

Registered on June 25, 2007, 491 Posts, 12566 Comments

Comment posted by Cheryl Molennor on April 12, 2011 at 10:42 PM

Wow, that's a great capture. I would Love to see the bigger image so i can really see it all!

Registered on June 30, 2009, 300 Posts, 5051 Comments