I photographed this impressive bird at the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve in South Africa last fall. These are nornally shy birds but this guy was hanging around the entrance to the park. One of the main stays of their diet is baby tortoises, they must use that huge beak to crack them open. The light was challenging for a black and white bird but I liked the detail I got on the head and neck as well as the background.
Canon 5D3 500F4 1.4x 1/1250 F8, iso 800, handheld
Comments
8 commentsVery nice, Nate. An excellent job on the exposure. I'm a bit tired of the idea that every bit of a dark bird needs to have visible detail. It's not that way when we look at them in nature, and I see no reason why it should be so in a photograph. All the important parts here have very good detail.
Sweet composition with that perch having the same angle as the bird and the other little clump on the bottom with a nice diagonal as well.
Great background -- hard to think of this as a raven with that heavy beak -- would like more detail in the blacks
That's an amazing beak. The pose, setting, and background work well. The larger version shows enough subtle details in the near blacks so that those areas add nicely.
I like the bottom/perch & comp, great job on the exposure Nate.
Sharp details, very handsome guy you have here
Have a great weekend
Perfect exposure, nice perch, great details in the large image. Winner all around
Cool species, and excellent techs on the image.., despite the 'challenging light' . Not much to complain
. Cheers, Hans
Very cool looking Raven Nate. Looks like a difficult subject to expose, but you pulled it off nicely...especially with side light. BTW...I actually like side lit subjects sometimes...I like the depth it creates.
Very nice job on the exposure here Nate. I agree with Dennis on the exposure "requirements" on dark feathered birds. This guy somewhat reminds me of a Greater Ani.