African Goshawk

BigAl

These are not good pics, but 99.9% of folks here will never see this bird (99.9% of folks in Africa never see it ). The reason I'm showing them is to share the extreme difficulty I had in taking the shots. In our bigger national parks you are not allowed to get out of your vehicle (you're not allowed to be eaten by lions and trampled on by elephants and rhino :wink). Now this bird had the audacity to be on the passenger's side of the vehicle (and my wife happened to be in the passenger seat). What I had to do was to lay my head on her lap and then try to support the Bigma on her b**bs :rofl

This is the result of my upside down pics (which were taken in portrait mode).





Again, sorry about the poor quality and blown out bg, but I'm sure some of you would appreciate the difficulties we have to go through in order to get the pic :rofl

Art Scott

BigAl wrote:

Now this bird had the audacity to be on the passenger's side of the vehicle (and my wife happened to be in the passenger seat). What I had to do was to lay my head on her lap and then try to support the Bigma on her b**bs

Again, sorry about the poor quality and blown out bg, but I'm sure some of you would appreciate the difficulties we have to go through in order to get the pic

Nice photos and I kinda enjoy the blown bg on these as it does not seem to fake away from the bird........However your little description of how you had to "lay my head in my wifes lap and and support my bigma with my wifes b**bs"..................Just sounds like you'd use any excuse to get to........well you see where i am going......don't try to make us think this was a reprehensible thing by any means....:D:D:D:D:D:D Every male photog has tried at sometime to incorporate his wife into supporting his big glass with her body (or parts there of) at sometime I am sure.......:D:D:D:D:D

At least she did not breathe while you were focusing...:D:D:D

dbaker1221

good capture Al I gotta say that I'm impressed with you wife's b##bs...the bigma is heavy

Dick on Aruba

Neat captures. Finally your wife got some attention too

Thanks for sharing,

Dick.

Maestro

No apologies necessary. I think you did fine job. The stark white BG actually sort of sets off the colors in the goshawk. I love the eyes. What a beautiful raptor!

Harryb

Those are very good captures Al. You did an outstanding job of capturing a backlit subject. Your wife also gets a bit of the credit for the shot also.

raptorcaptor

Great captures Big Al!

saurora

Absolutely stunning bird...thanks for sharing...I laughed through the entire thread! Obviously, your wife is very supportive of your hobby.

BigAl

Art Scott wrote:

Nice photos and I kinda enjoy the blown bg on these as it does not seem to fake away from the bird........However your little description of how you had to "lay my head in my wifes lap and and support my bigma with my wifes b**bs"..................Just sounds like you'd use any excuse to get to........well you see where i am going......don't try to make us think this was a reprehensible thing by any means....:D:D:D:D:D:D Every male photog has tried at sometime to incorporate his wife into supporting his big glass with her body (or parts there of) at sometime I am sure.......:D:D:D:D:D

At least she did not breathe while you were focusing...:D:D:D

Thanks Art! Before I pressed the button I asked her to take a deep breath

BigAl

dbaker1221 wrote:

good capture Al I gotta say that I'm impressed with you wife's b##bs...the bigma is heavy

Thanks Dave! Yes, ample support is necessary

BigAl

Dick on Aruba wrote:

Neat captures. Finally your wife got some attention too

Thanks for sharing,

Dick.

Thanks Dick! Attention tends to wander as we get older

BigAl

Maestro wrote:

No apologies necessary. I think you did fine job. The stark white BG actually sort of sets off the colors in the goshawk. I love the eyes. What a beautiful raptor!

Thanks Stephen. It's seldom that you see this bird in the open (which is why I went through the effort to get the pics) - it usually hides in the canopy, apart from a morning territorial flight.

BigAl

Harryb wrote:

Those are very good captures Al. You did an outstanding job of capturing a backlit subject. Your wife also gets a bit of the credit for the shot also.

Thanks Harry! I didn't want to use a flash in case I scared it off, and yes the missus must get most of the credit. She actually got some pretty good shots of it herself with the trashy 75-300 lens.

BigAl

raptorcaptor wrote:

Great captures Big Al!

Thanks Glenn!

BigAl

saurora wrote:

Absolutely stunning bird...thanks for sharing...I laughed through the entire thread! Obviously, your wife is very supportive of your hobby.

Thanks Susan! Your very apt comment about her supprt had *me* rolling about

Ric Grupe

Very cool! Thanks.

Those lens supports can be very expensive sometimes.

BigAl

Ric Grupe wrote:

Very cool! Thanks.

Those lens supports can be very expensive sometimes.

Thanks Ric