What a Beautie .... LOL

[Andreas Liedmann]

• Andreas Liedmann
• Andreas Liedmann
• DxO PureRAW 4

Hi folks ... for sure not the prettiest bird on planet earth this Marabou .
But they do belong to the ecosystem in different parts of the world , so for me well worth photographing ... specially they are not that common as far as I can say and where I have been in Africa .
So I felt happy to get them quite close in Botswana in the Nxai Pan NP .
Brutally hot at the time of shooting as it was already late in the day ... we spent most of the day at that single waterhole , as for the most part the park was just dry and very dusty .


Canon EOS 1Dx II
EF 500 IS L II + 2xTC
Beanbag

F9 ; Iso 1600 ; 1/2000 sec

Processed with DT 4.8.1 and PSCC 2024 ; slight crop and a bit of clean up in BG

Thanks for looking and commenting to my previous postings

Cheers Andreas

 

[Daniel Cadieux]

Ha ha, fun fact: "marabou" when used in French over here can mean "grumpy" or "miserable". I can certainly see why here:bg3:. I like the image, even with the non-direct light angle - I love the way it passes through the eye. Good BG, vertical composition.

 

[Jonathan Ashton]

Outstanding - wonderful details throughout the bird. Very good background shows the subject to good effect, as Dan indicated the eye really draws the viewr's attention.

 

[Ilija Dukovski]

What a cool bird. I love the face colors and texture here. Quite a unique shot.

 

[Dave Pastern]

A very nice shot of an interesting bird Andreas. My only suggestion would be to perhaps darken the foreground log a bit to help create some depth.

Dave

 

[Andreas Liedmann]

Thanks so much folks for your comments and feedback , much appreciated .

@ Dave ... the FG is already darkened quite strong , but I could try to darken it a touch more and see how it does look .

Cheers Andreas

 

[Brian Sump]

Andreas, hahah your title :bg3:

Man, this poor haggard fella. He's beautiful in his momma's eyes though!!!

This is quite an intriguing image really. This subject standing in such a desolate setting with such a look tells a story IMO.

Shadows not too stiff and the open beak brings interest. Not sure what more you could do to the foreground but I really like the faint striations behind.

Pretty but not pretty ;-) TFS amigo!

 

[Andreas Liedmann]

THX my friend , glad you like the prettiest bird in Southern Africa :bg3: