Another rainy day

[laurie golden]

Looking forward to a partly cloudy day tomorrow here in the Pacific Northwest after to many days of rain. Here is another Costa Rica bird - Keel-billed Toucan taken in the rain. I deleted a couple of branches from the upper left and cropped about 15%.

Nikon D3S, 500mm f4 lens
ISO 500, f6.3, 1/200 sec
Manual exposure


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[Randy Stout]

Laurie;

The colors are amazing on this fellow, soft light lets them really glow. Sharp, well exposed, I like the rain drops, open bill.

I would be tempted to crop from the left enough to remove the OOF trunk in LUC, down from the top a bit, in from the right as well, and clone out the little bit of green leaves still showing above.

I suspect the IQ will hold up well enough for that, and it would really highlight the bird.

Personal taste really.

Cheers

Randy

[Peter Dexter]

I agree about the trunk but otherwise very nice capture of a beautiful bird. I personally don't mind the leaves.

[Raymond Lee]

Great shot Laurie! Love the colour and details on the bird! The rain in the background really adds to the setting. If this was my image, I would crop the top and right canvas slightly, clone out that trunk in the top left corner and clone out the hanging leaves about the bird. Again, excellent image!

[Karl Egressy]

Great looking bird, love the open beak pose and colours. The rain look good on the picture, probably not as good to be in it, in real life.

[Satish Ranadive]

Laurie:
Excellent image of Keel-billed Toucan in the rain.Very nice colors,pose and perch too.

Regards,
Satish.

[gail bisson]

The soft light really showcases this beautiful birds' colors.
Like the comp and the raindrops and IQ.
I agree 100% with Randy and Raymond re:cloning out OOF trunk in LUC. I would also crop the RHS so that the branch intersects with the corner,
Gail

[Grace Scalzo]

I love the rainy mood, great bird and background. Composition could certainly be strengthened by employing suggestions given above.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Laurie, love the soft light, and you have exposed the Toucan nicely. Good angled pose with the open beak, sharp, and I like how the curved perch runs through the frame. Great BG, and the rain adds to the image. Randy has mentioned the branches that I would remove too.

[dankearl]

I really like the rain here, tough to pull off and make look good in a photo.
The bird is very attractive.

[laurie golden]

Thank you all for your suggestions and comments. You all seem to be in agreement so I have deleted leaves and branches and cropped to 8x10, I do agree that it is a better photo of the bird. I originally wanted some habitat but I can see that there was not enough of it to add anything to the photo. Here is my hopefully improved photo.

[Randy Stout]

Laurie:

For my tastes, this is a much stronger image, with a better look at the bird, still strong sense of rain, cleaned up branches, all better for me.

Cheers

Randy

[dankearl]

Laurie, i like the repost, but I may have gone further, probably less habitat than you like, but I thought the bird was terrific,
and the bird and the rain was enough for me.
Hope you don't mind.

_DSC4005xdk.jpg (http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=121317&stc=1&d=1353895803)

[Robert Holguin]

Wonderful shot.
Love the rainfall, great perch, nice timing on the open beak, nice details, and wonderful background.
I really like your repost and Dan's too. Either one is stunning.
Well done.

[Shawn Zierman]

Your repost rocks! I think the branch above the bird adds to the image in terms of "flow"
and more visual interest, so I don't care for the repost in pane#13.
Love the rain and the great subject expression.

[Shawn Zierman]

Your repost rocks! I think the branch above the bird adds to the image in terms of "flow"
and more visual interest, so I don't care for the repost in pane#13.
Love the rain and the great subject expression.

[David Salem]

Beautiful shot and I like the re-post allot. Great colors and the BG with the rain makes this special. Well done...

[Gary Hamilton]

Another superb image, Laurie. Great exposure and details in the wet feathers. I like both reposts because they accentuate the bird more but that's up to you. Keep `em coming!

[Richard Unsworth]

Very nice, good points and reposts - like em all.

miss Costa Rica for sure

Love Toucans, great character in this one!

[Greg Basco]

Hi, Laurie. I think the advice you received was great and gave you an improved final product with the reposted version. Just love the soft light and rain here!

Cheers,
Greg