Keel-billed Toucan

[Paul Kusmin]

I've wanted to shoot toucans for years and was finally able to do so recently in Costa Rica.
Well worth the wait, they didn't disappoint.

143364

D7100, 500mm f4 AFS-I, 500mm, 1/400, ISO 1600, tripod, natural light.
feeder setup, a few blurry rain drops cloned out, NR done on BG, sharpening for web.

I took a whole wack of shots and got various poses on a few different occasions, and while the head isn't tilted as desirably as i would like, i'm more excited by the red rump as displayed here, not as common a look.

[Ian Wilson]

Spectacular bird, great perch and angle of view. I would be tempted to do a bit of work on the background to remove the vertical branch/trees and give the bird a bit more space at the top and RHS. Regards, Ian.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Lovely colours and soft light. I personally don't mind the space at the top, given the bird's orientation and general "direction" of implied movement and gaze.
I would tone down the sharpness of the lichens on the branch?

[vishaljadhav]

Lovely colours
great IQ , Sharp

[John Robinson]

Thats a good one . Position etc just right. Amazing beak too.
JohnR
PS -You.ve got the right camera !

[Satish Ranadive]

Excellent image. Very nice pose, beautiful colors,great details and interesting perch.

Regards,
Satish.

[Shawn Zierman]

Excellent job with the exposure work and representing the colors of the scene well without going overboard on saturation. Very nice image of an amazing subject...as close as it is to a "perfect" head angle...I'd love to see just a bit more of head turn towards us, and wonder if in the sequence of images, maybe you have one like that?....A little more NR to the bg would not hurt the image....

[Lorant Voros]

A dream bird for all of us. I like it as presented and the red rump is well seen as you said. I agree with Morkel toning down the lichens.

[Paul Kusmin]

Thanks everyone, i'll take suggestions into consideration when i reprocess this one.
I wish i had more looks at this particular sequence but it was only 3 shots to choose from before it moved position.
i agree as well about toning down the perch, i didn't need to sharpen the image as much as i did this time and that contributed.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Lots to like here: well-rendered blacks, great colours, good pose and perch. I like the bit of glowing red at the tip of the bill, and the awesome blue feet. BG, as Ian mentions, could have been better without the large oof tree behind the rump and the darker line at right. Still a neat photo with a good comp.

[Sridatta Chegu]

Nice shot! Love the composition and the soft colors with very well balanced tones.