I was trying to get some closeup egret shots when I ducked under a tree to get out of a rain shower and found this little guy had the same idea. He must have wanted to get wet about as much as I did and let me take half a roll of shots. The rain stopped and I got this parting shot seconds before he flew off.

-- Sean Corley (corley@plpk.uq.edu.au), May 20, 1999

Answers

Very, very nice. One of the best executed animal portraits I've seen in this gallery. The open beak and the c-curve of the birds body give it that little extra interest that makes it stand out. Would make a nice cover for a birding magazine.

-- Billy Gorum (Herphoto@aol.com), May 20, 1999.

Well done! Glad you both wanted so badly to stay dry. The result was superior.

-- Garry Schaefer (schaefer@pangea.ca), May 20, 1999.

Excellent shot. The position of the bird's head and its body is almost too good to be true. If only the foreground is as good as the background, it would have been perfect(probably unavoidable).

Care to tell us some specifications?

-- Alan Y. (nature_sg@yahoo.com), May 20, 1999.

Just Perfect ... and dry.

-- Charles Dias (deepblue97a@hotmail.com), May 20, 1999.

Very nice. I wish it was mine. If I had to nitpick I would say that it needs just a touch of fill-flash to bring out some of the darker areas. But, that may be my monitor or the scan.

So you got this picture by being out in the field during a storm and taking advantage of an opportunity?? Now Really!! Tell the truth! You got this photo because you spend all your time in camera stores trading for the latest equipment, right? HAHA!

-- Stan McManus (stanshooter@yahoo.com), May 20, 1999.

Incredible.... I agree with Billy, this is one of the best wildlife shots on this critique. What lense? What location? Job well done!!

-- Les Saucier (skincamp@skybest.com), May 20, 1999.

Thanks for the comments.Details as follows. Eos50E /380Ex EF 100-300 f4-5.6 (1/45sec 300@5.6) Tripod of course. Fill flash -1.5 flash exp comp Elite 100

Taken around a lake on the University of Queensland campus(where I work),Brisbane Australia.Although only a couple of miles from the CBD of Australia's third largest city it still attracts a good variety of native bird life.Same location as my previous post.

The foreground limb in the slide is much lighter and out of focus bark detail can be easily seen and the colours of the kingfisher are more saturated.Unfortunatley I couldn't get access to photoshop to get the scan closer to the slide,so it's just been sharpened and autobalanced.

Thanks again for the comments.

-- Sean Corley (corley@plpk.uq.edu.au), May 20, 1999.