Auckland Island Pipit

[Ian Wilson]

This is the Auckland Is subspecies of the NewZealand Pipit, Anthus novaeseelandiae. The NZ sub-Antarctic islands are the remnants of extinct volcanoes, the peaks of which remained above sea-level when the continent of Zeelandia was submerged at the end of the last Ice-age. Some of the birds isolated on these remote islands rapidly evolved from the original stock, much like happened on the Galapagos Islands. For this reason, the sub-Antarctic islands of NZ and Australia are often referred to as the Galapagos of the Southern Ocean. The bird is on the flower head of the mega-herb, Anistome latifolia. I had a bright, messy background which I attempted to 'soften' with surface blur followed by a little darkening to make the bird stand out. The image was captured on Enderby Is, 2 January 2014.
Canon 5DIII + 300 mm f/2.8L II + 2x III extender, Gitzp 3532LS, Kirkphoto King Cobra gimbal.
Av priority, f/7.1, 1/1250 sec, ISO 400, EC +2/3 EV.
Processed in DPP: crop, adjust brightness (-0.5), shad/h'lights, contrast, saturation, USM, RAW-TIFF. PS Elements: background surface blur, darken background, brighten eye, TIFF-JPEG, USM.

[Karl Egressy]

Nice write up on the history of sub-Antarctic Islands of NZ. Nice pose, detail, background and great looking perch, Ian. You mentioned the brightening of the eye. I would have gone a little further with that.

[Grace Scalzo]

Quite a lovely, colorful frame. Do wish that the eye wasn't partially shadowed. A bit less of a head turn would have solved that. Any chance another in the sequence might have the eye better?

[Ian Wilson]

Quite a lovely, colorful frame. Do wish that the eye wasn't partially shadowed. A bit less of a head turn would have solved that. Any chance another in the sequence might have the eye better?
Thanks Grace. I have a couple more frames but the sun was high so in each capture there is some shade from the bird's eye-brow and the one I chose was the only one with the bird looking directly at the camera. However, I think I can do more work on the frame posted. I usually like to work on the basis that, 'less is more' but in this case I think I just have to be more aggressive with the eye work. Regards, Ian

[Ian Wilson]

I have done a bit more eye work as suggested by Karl and Grace. Daniel's advice on eye work in another forum was helpful - I used a little dodge and burn - I think it has worked. Thanks for the encouragement - much appreciated. Cheers, Ian

[William Dickson]

Brilliant capture Ian. Lovely bird, and lovely perch. Well done :S3:

[Binu John]

Fabulous shot, Ian! Beautiful bird and perch! Love the pose and feather details!

[Daniel Cadieux]

The eye definitely looks better on the repost, now all it needs is to enhance the catchlight that is at the 2 o'clock position. Neat perch, and you did well with the BG as it looks good.

[Grace Scalzo]

Love the repost.

[Ian Wilson]

Thanks everyone for your helpful and generous feedback on this one. Kind regards, Ian