Difficult conditions

[Faraaz Abdool]

Male green-backed trogon sitting in dappled sunshine. I tried to fill the shadows with flash. Bear in mind that this image was created at 2:09PM. So the little light that was filtering through was rather strong.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8110/8626519302_4482117828_c.jpg

7D | 390mm | 1/500s | f/6.3 | ISO 500 | Fill flash @ -1 | Bright OOF branch removed in DPP (I still don't have PS, so no content aware fill or anything like that :-))

C&C welcome :-)

[Alan Murphy]

Cool species. The strong contrasty light is tough as is the steep angle.

[Marina Scarr]

The angle and light were tough here, but you did a great job getting the head sharp, and I am loving all those details in the bird's whiskers.

[PhilCook]

As you say the conditions were difficult with strong but uneven light blowing out parts of the bird while leaving some in shadow....but love the whiskers

[Faraaz Abdool]

Hey guys, thanks for your feedback. What I should've asked from the beginning: "given these conditions, how does one make a good image?"

There is very little middle ground in the forest, in the morning it's way too dark, as the sun gets higher the understory gets brighter, but with this harsh light filtering through.

[Satish Ranadive]

Beautiful image of trogon. Seeing for the first time.Waiting for the more images.
TFS.

Regards,
Satish.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Hey guys, thanks for your feedback. What I should've asked from the beginning: "given these conditions, how does one make a good image?"

There is very little middle ground in the forest, in the morning it's way too dark, as the sun gets higher the understory gets brighter, but with this harsh light filtering through.

In conditions like these you'll want to attract your subjects lower, but I realize it is not possible with every species or every individual of certain species. Setups, audio, blinds, feeders. You did well here for what you had but pointing up in these conditions will often lead to distracting bright highlights in the BG. For me, in many cases when the light is just too harsh I pack up the gear and come back when the light is better. It is tough to do when you do not have much time for outings or observing a "rare" or unusual species!

[Faraaz Abdool]

Thanks! I was actually waiting for a few hours for him to show up. That's just how it is sometimes.

*orders Alan Murphy's book*