A Song For Ram - TBN 8

Critiques [Translate]

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• nglen (36145)
• [2008-06-14 10:00]

Hello Loot. What a fantastic close up of this bird i have not seen so thanks for posting. thanks to Tn over the last 18mth i have learnt so much about nature. A fine detication to Ram. Your bird has sharp focusing and fine detail rich colours and a good POV. TFS. Interesting notes too.
Nick..

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• PeterZ (49139)
• [2008-06-14 10:00]

Hello Loot,
Wonderful photo with amazing clear colours and excellent sharpness. Lovely pose. Great composition, catchlight in the eye, POV and BG.
Very, very beautiful!
Have a nice weekend,
Peter

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• jaycee (25460)
• [2008-06-14 10:08]

Hi Loot,

This was one of those rare golden opportunities and you took full advantage of it. A magnificent close-up of this bird I have not seen before. Everything about this shot is perfect. The colors and shadings of the plummage are exceptional. Fine details of the entire bird. The expression on his face and the beautiful eye are priceless. I love the profile in the workshop 0 you captured two wonderful poses.

Jane

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• gracious (13068)
• [2008-06-14 10:10]

Hello Mr.Loot,
Delighted to see such a wonderful posting and a nice dedication of Cliff-Chat to Mr.Ram!
perfect close up with excellent sharpness, awesome colouration and superb details on the bird!
the clarity on the plummage is perfect!
many thanks for the sharing
greeting from NZ
Tony

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• uleko (10940)
• [2008-06-14 10:14]

Hello Loot,
Yes, things often happen when you least expect them!! How lucky you were to have this beautiful bird posing so nicely for you! Its a real beauty in wonderful colours and details are very sharp. A fine background too and well composed.
This is a very fine dedication to our dear friend Ram!
Many thanks and best wishes, Ulla

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• S_Akshay (729)
• [2008-06-14 10:19]

Hello Sir!

A very fine dedication to Sir.Ram.
Good composition and shrpness . I have no words to say about this picture.TFS
Akshay

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• gannu (14761)
• [2008-06-14 10:28]

Hello Loot,
Excellent and superb shot. Great clarity and excellent sharpness. Ganesh

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• eng55 (5892)
• [2008-06-14 11:17]

Hi Loot,
Wonderful capture of this bird.Details are crisp clear and tack sharp.POV,pose of bird,colors,contrast and composition are perfect.I liked simple BG and catchlight in eyes also a lot.
Thanks for posting.

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• goldyrs (11497)
• [2008-06-14 12:04]

The plumage is very well captured, Loot.
I would not like to say anything technically to a master...but it's an awesome shot!
And this shot could be Ram Sirs'! Here, your styles are very similar!
Very well done, Loot!
Goldy

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• Hil (5035)
• [2008-06-14 12:25]

Hi Loot,

Stunning capture of this pretty bird with a lovely name.
I really like the pose with the bird in profile but with its head turned towards you.
Very nice feather details and perfect exposure.
Beautiful colours and I like the light in the eye too.

Hil

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• joey (24909)
• [2008-06-14 13:52]

Extremely sharp image, Loot!!
Stunning detail and excellent clarity.
Nice colours and great use of flash.
Superb DOF too.

Very well done!

Cheers,
Joe

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• Rehanna (18)
• [2008-06-14 14:12]

Hello Loot

Mr. Ram Thakur is beslis bevooreg om so 'n mooie toewyding te ontvang. Dit is voorwaar 'n pragtige dedikasie - humoristies dog diepsinnig. En wat 'n pragtige voëltjie om daarmee saam te gaan. Diep kleure met daardie wynrooi onderstel met duidelike en baie skerp besonderhede. So ook vir die aanvullende werkswinkel foto.

Nog 'n uitsonderlike puik stukkie werk vanuit jou lens en jou pen en nogeens die rede hoekom ek so baie van jou werk hou.

Groete
Rehanna

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• Jamesp (18906)
• [2008-06-14 14:26]

Hi Loot

Excellent pose and POV. Excellent isolation of the subject and great detail throughout.

James

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• vanderschelden (30441)
• [2008-06-14 19:04]

Hello Loot,
Excellent image and photographer's note.
Scrolling to the image again. Here we are:-).
Nicely done. Very close close up. Unknown bird for yours truly but definitely a beautiful one.
I verified the KNP map 'cause I thought it wasn't listed but I was wrong it is actually.
Very good job.
TFS
Annick

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• Miss_Piggy (18714)
• [2008-06-14 22:00]

Hallo Loot
Now this is what I call sheer magic. An absolute feast to the eye. Wonderful colours, excellent sharpness and splendid details. Beautiful and harmonious composition. The technical quality of this shot of this Mocking Cliff-chat is extraordinary. Exposure is masterly done, not a single spot is overexposed. You could not have chosen a better photo as this one to dedicate to our friend Ram. It is absolutely splendid. The colours in the image are complementing each other nicely. This is an amazingly beautiful photo and will be going straight to my favourites. I like the way of the pose showing its profile and the frontal view of its face. There is nothing else to add here besides that this shot is perfect! Thanks for sharing.
Love.
Anna

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• Argus (50626)
• [2008-06-15 0:47]

Hello Loot,
What a great area for nature you live in and it is a fine thing to appreciate it like you do. I guess this male Cliff Chat made an appearance and sung just for your benefit and to pass the spirit of this appearance on to our friend Ram is eminently suitable.
You do this in the form of a fine image with not only superb technical attributes with excellent use of flash, but also a great capture of the cliff Chat's pose.
Nice to look in and thanks for sharing both the image and the note.
Regards,
Ivan

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• pvs (14464)
• [2008-06-15 2:36]

Hi Loot,

A very nice capture and what a model as she just waited on your changing of lenses,maybe a common bird,but I havent seen them around (on TN),thanks for sharing this one and I guess ram is quite happy with this one,tfs

Paul

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• Janice (18832)
• [2008-06-15 3:14]

Both images are so nice of the beautiful little Mocking cliff-chat. Well captured too.
And the Google map is so clear - thank you Loot for showing that to us. What a landscape...
And your notes - very thorough and interesting - I could just about picture myself there.
Kia ora
Janice

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• darwin (1401)
• [2008-06-15 5:07]

Hi Loot
Great shot with wonderful detail and lovely color tones in the feathers
tfs jon

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• sandpiper2 (16757)
• [2008-06-15 6:31]

Hi Loot

Great note. Great experience. Birding and photography in SA is so different to here. We have no "hides" and no big dangerous fauna, except for crocodiles in the tropical part of the continent.

Anyway, great shot, love the pose. Excellent sharpness as usual.

its late and I'm off to bed
see ya
Chris

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• SunToucher (11162)
• [2008-06-15 9:47]

Hi Loot,
What a wonderful brid and what a wonderful pose he gave you. The red under belly has a really stricking color and I am sure that once in the air this is show even better.
I am always searching for the photographer in the reflection in the eye, but I think that this time the flash made it impossible.

Its probably my high ress monitor, but I do see a fair amount of noise in the right wing of the bird. Especially in the darker part closer to the tip of the wing. Did you do some adjustments in shadows?

TFS,
Niek

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• bobcat08 (1431)
• [2008-06-15 11:00]

Hi Loot,

In the first place I put this beautiful and colorful bird as favorite. What a fantastic close up of this bird. What an amazing colours. The clarity on the plummage is perfect.

As always you did a perfect job to do this dedication to our dear friend Ram.

Regards and TFS BOB

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• marhowie (486)
• [2008-06-16 4:57]

Wonderful pose & POV Loot,
Good to hear this beauty waited on you to change out your lens..
She must've liked ya..You really must stop winkin' at the pretty girls, Anna may get jealous ;}
Very well composed with excellent details, DOF, color, bokeh, and exposure..And that's about enough chat about this chat :)
Howard

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• Tobias__Ortmann (681)
• [2008-06-16 8:57]

Hi loot
absolute great capture
pefect sharpness nice action shot
concrulations
Toba

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• Alex99 (23735)
• [2008-06-16 9:56]

Hi Loot.
First of all I impressed with heartiness of your dedication to our dear friend Mr. Ram Thakur a lot. You have found so touching words for him. You have dedicate to him amazing of subject and quality shot. Terrific details, sharpness and colour reproduction of the plumage and other fine details of the beauty. BG is so wonderful as main subject. Composition of the image and framing are spot on too. Simply great work. My congratulations.
Alexei.

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• betsie (0)
• [2008-06-17 0:43]

Hi Loot
Is sy nie pragtig nie? Ongelooflike styl en houding wat jy hier vasgevang het, en die kleure vloei so mooi in mekaar. Goeie interesante notas maak hierdie foto baie spesiaal. Jou fotos is nog steeds een mooier as die ander en dit is baie moeilik om enige van jou fotos uit te sonder.
Groete
Betsie

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• Dyker (170)
• [2008-06-17 1:44]

Hi Loot
She is so cute with the contrasting black wings and plumage agains the red belly and back. The fokus is nice and sharp showing all the details of the feathers. She is looking straight at you and as your notes say, it does not seem like she is showing any fear at all. The dedication to Ram is well done and I am sure he will enjoy it whenever he sees it some day(?). Your total posting is once again an example of how it should be done: good photo with excellent informative as well as entertaining notes.
Greetings
AC

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• ramthakur (56953)
• [2008-06-17 19:26]
• [+]

Hi Loot,
Shame-faced and sufficiently reprimanded by AC (Dyker), I stand at your door-step to apologize for my laxity.
That this wonderful dedication should go unnoticed by its recipient for more than two days is something I cannot forgive myself for.

To convey my deep sense of guilt, first of all, I thank you from the core of my heart for bestowing this great honour on me.
However, laxity on my part was unintentional. At this juncture, it would be appropriate to express my heart-felt gratitude to AC for reminding me of my ignorance about the dedication.

Coming to your picture of a Cliff-chat, it is not just a fantastic image in technical and aesthetic terms; it is the capture of an intense emotional moment when the rapport between you and this bird transcended the ordinary and turned into a sublime experience. The bird, despite its awareness of your presence, held its ground on the strength of its will and alllowed you to take its pictures from a hand-shaking distance before flying away. It is not a common, everyday experience and it has happened with me once or twice.
The other day I mentioned this, most probably to Ulla, (senility is creeping on me already!) that some of us (nature photographers) at some stage or the other become empowered with the ability to transmit some kind of "message" to the wild creatures that we mean no harm to them and that we care for them. It is a message of pure love. If you would recall my honey-comb pictures taken in Saudi Arabia (besides those of flies, cockroaches and suchlike . . .chuckle!), I had reached a stage with those bees that I would be only inches away from them and they would crawl over my hands and camera. I was no more scared of them and it was the same with them. I would occasionally blow at the honey-comb to disperse them so that I could take close-up pictures of the shape and colour of the intricately crafted comb.
The other day, a Purple Sunbird -- the most frustrating bird I have ever tried to shoot -- landed a foot away from me while I stood near a bush, looking for dragonflies on it. My camera was mounted with 105mm macro and I had no altenative but to use it in capturing a couple of its pictures while it sang and flitted about in the bush totally indifferent to my presence. It is a different matter that the pictures did not turn out any good for which the credit goes entirely to me. I have even posted one of those pictures!

Looks like I have broken your record of the longest critiques on TN (Chuckle!)so I turn tails at this point with deeply felt apology for my oversight and with my heart brimming with gratitude for you for conferring this great honour on me.

Ram

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• FunkyMunky (3154)
• [2008-06-17 20:00]

Wow! I can't make up my mind whether you are a better photographer or writer! Both the photo and writeup are excellent! Well done!
Peter

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• saeedabbasi (5100)
• [2008-06-18 20:46]

Hi dear Loot ,
As always another nice shot .
It has great details with nice BG.
sharpness and light are wonderfyl.

Thanks for sharing
Kind regards
Saeed

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• Luis52 (15809)
• [2008-06-18 20:51]

Hola Sr. Lott.
It is always very nice for Me to see Your great work here, now with this black and red bird, that I never seen before. The sharpness,and light is in high quality level. I also like the pose. I find this note very interesting too.
TFS this beautiful photo Sr. Lott.
Luis52.

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• boreocypriensis (9571)
• [2008-06-19 1:22]
• [3]

Hi Loot,
Superb detailed, clear and perfect capture of this beautiful bird. The plumage details are wonderful my friend! I also loved the the view way that this beauty seems to watch you. Excellency in all around with your great notes.
Many thanks for sharing this beauty my friend.
Cheers,

Bayram

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• Aaltjie (0)
• [2008-06-19 7:00]

Hallo my friend
I am sure you thought I dissapeared. Sorry but you are still stuck with me. My reading glasses broke and I was literally as blind as a mole. Now that I can see again I see you have put aside the longest note to give my eyes excersises again. I told you before, you are very clever. The information is so interesting I cannot even skip some of the lines, I just have to read it through completely. Very good as always. I always like your notes and I am only pulling your leg on the length of this specific one.

Now to come back to your photo. What a very beautiful and fine looking bird.It has a very special look and grace to it. An excellent photo. I can understand why your fellow members have such an appreciation for your work, and I have seen many critiques on the admiration of your work.
Everything is perfect to me. The colours of the bird as well as the background are outstanding. Excellent work. You deserve a big * star, and if I could I would have wanted to make it a gold star, unfortunately is remains green, no matter how hard I try to change it. Thanks for sharing your talent as photographer. Thanks also for your friendship.
Kind regards
Aaltjie

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• haraprasan (20403)
• [2008-06-19 8:12]

Hi Loot,
A lovely capture of this beautiful chat bird. A beautiful dedication for Mr. Ram. Excellent composition and very good details. Thanks a lot for sharing.

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• Tamrock (1928)
• [2008-06-19 8:39]

hi loot!
a very fine bird!
perfect exposure and a very
good sharpness!
well done!

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• Silvio2006 (102073)
• [2008-06-19 9:49]

Hi Loot, beautiful bird with fantastic colors, fine details and excellent sharpness, very well done, ciao Silvio

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• SelenE (13972)
• [2008-06-19 12:22]

Hi Loot,
You are lucky to find such a friendly and co-operative model. The neat background, details and expression you captured look very good. TFS
All the best,
Selen

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• manyee (23770)
• [2008-06-19 21:46]

That's a beautiful bird, Loot, and rare to boot.
Have never seen this one with the bright red tummy.
A really rich and unusual color.
Excellent details and pose.
I really enjoyed your story, as usual. : )
I know what you mean by "touched by nature".
I had a similar experience in Hongkong. (Please read note)
TFS. : )

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• clnaef (6814)
• [2008-06-19 23:26]

Bonjour,
Magnifique oiseau plein de détails et bonnes explications. Merci pour la critique détaillée.
Bonne journée.
clnaef

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• xTauruSx (788)
• [2008-06-21 10:56]

Hello Loot, stunning shot of this beutifully cloured bird with excellent details. TFS. Regards,
Deniz

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• MartinL (0)
• [2008-06-23 14:54]

Loot,

Thank you for such kind words you left under my picture! I really appreciate it :)
Now, what a wonderful story this is! Such moments when nature accepts us as equals do not happen too often but when they do, they are worth every second of it. I really wish that animals had no reason to run away from humans but unfortunately, the realities are different. This is one more reason to cherish such wonderful encounters. These are definitely moments to remember. Your theme 'Touched By Nature' describes them very well.
You have done an excellent job photographing this beautiful bird. The colorful plumage and details are shown very well. I really like the bird's curious look. It adds a nice touch to this photograph. This excellent image makes for a superb dedication - very nicely done.
Say hi to Anna, hopefully she'll be 'up and running' in no time.

Best Wishes,

Martin

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• arfer (0)
• [2008-06-23 21:30]

Hello Loot

A beautiful capture of this Mocking cliff-chat.The focus is razor sharp with lovely plumage detail.
The colours are vibrant and well saturated.
Lovely DOF and excellent pov.
Great job.
TFS

Rob

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• smitha (4409)
• [2008-06-30 3:37]

Hello Loot,
Excellent capture of the Mockinf Cliff - Chat.
Immaculate sharpness and wonderful details caught in the plumage. The POV and DOF are perfect.I liked the pose it gave you. Seems like Mother Nature had sent this little birdie to amuse you with a sweet song for all the kindness and appreciation you show towards Her creatures. A nice dedication to Ram.
Thanks a lot for sharing this beautiful shot,
Regards,
Smitha.
P.S.:How are you?

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• Ken52 (4195)
• [2008-07-01 14:20]

A technically outstanding shot with no weaknesses. I like the pose of the bird, the colors, the eye contact, and the outstanding DOF and background. I enjoyed the workshop photo as well.

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• zeca (2887)
• [2008-07-01 21:16]

Hey Loot! One more great shot! Beautiful bird, with nice colours and excellent sharpen details! Well taken!
Regards,
Zeca

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• pankajbajpai (16627)
• [2008-07-15 19:48]

hello loot,
a fitting dedication to a wonderful tn member Mr. Ram Thakur witha great post, i am sure that he will be delighted and so am i with this fine posting,
excellent work once again,
tfs & regards
pankaj

•      
• lawbert (0)
• [2008-07-22 9:14]

Hi Loot
Just marking for now
Paul

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• peter_stoeckl (11530)
• [2008-07-23 3:37]

Dear Loot,
very beautiful, deeply touching, enormously rich posting.
My mind was flying far away from my desk while reading your passionate notes to that excellent, closely taken picture.
Thank you my dear friend.
With all my best wishes,
Peter

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• EOSF1 (23955)
• [2008-07-23 4:26]

Hello Loot, nicely composed image, great sharpness and perfect back ground, the light and exposure are fine, thanks!

Mario

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• claudine (0)
• [2008-08-10 13:08]

Hi Loot,
This is a superb specie! What a beautiful creature. You capture a nice pose with super sharp details, excellent exposure and composition. Thanks for the bonus picture in WS. Regards,
Claudine

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• sranjan (5784)
• [2008-08-24 2:21]

Hello Loot,
Any dedication by you for a veteran like Ram has to be something special. I appreciate that well & make this bird's photograph reach century (100 points) with my submission........ :). TFS Thamnolaea cinnamomeiventris
Regards-Subhash

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• zahoor_salmi (5538)
• [2008-09-10 22:04]

Very, very beautiful!