Blue-faced Honeyeater

[PhilCook]

Taken on my last little adventure to the arid inland of Australia, these birds normally hang around in small family groups, and are usually very hyperactive. This adult male was a loner who came into my campsite briefly one day, initially to drink from water droplets on the bonnet of my car { photos of that unusual behavior taken as well :eek3:} After his drink he went foraging for grubs among the old fallen timbers which is when this shot was taken. As expected he was only around briefly before the troublesome Noisy Miner birds drove him away, as is their usual annoying habit.

Canon 7D + 500 f4.....f5, ISO 640, 1/500, no flash, manual exposure, tripod mounted shot, dull overcast skies, minimal editing with slight crop, selective sharpen and contrast tweak

Hope you like it....see ya's in a couple of day as I'm off to a family event a few hundred kilometers away { betcha I'll find time to grab the birding camera though lol }


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[Alan Lillich]

Lovely bird, nice pose, perch, and background. Great detail in the whites, so I guess the exposure is perfect. The framing and crop look perfect to me. It might be my tired eyes, but it looks to me like the focus is slightly near - the wing seems sharper than the face. I'm trying to force myself to be more conscious about moving the focus point so that I don't have to reframe after focusing. I also learned from Clemens Vanderwerf recently to stop a lot more than I have been when there is a distant background.

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Killer bird!
Lovely blue and super nice pose.

[John Cooper]

Hi Phil - yes I love these guys with their featherless patch of blue-enamel around the eye. He/she was very good to pose momentarily for you!

I think it would benefit from a little more sharpening especially around the head and neck - IMO..!!

Buit a very nice composition Phil.

Enjoy your break - going anywhere near central NSW?

[Shawn Zierman]

Background control is excellent. The naturally occuring perch is brilliant as well, and the
bird's pose flows perfectly with the orientation of the perch. The bird itself is very pretty,
and you managed to capture a fine facial expression with a perfect head angle.
Good advise given thus far for improving an already fine piece of bird photography, and
I suppose ISO800 with a bit more stopping down of the f-stop at the time of capture would
also have been a good idea.

[christopher galeski]

nice image and pose,like the BG and perch,agree the heads a little bitsoft.thanks.

[Satish Ranadive]

Phil:
Beautiful bird,nice colors and details.I like the pose with open beak.Nice composition too.

Regards.
Satish.

[Ignacio Yufera]

Beautiful bird, captured in a great pose and expression. Agree on sharpening around the head a little.

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the pose, open beak, composition and BG. Agree with sharpening the head area more. Well done Phil!

[PhilCook]

Thanks crew