Royal Spoonbill

[Paul Davey]

Here's a spoonbill from me. This was one of many photographs taken of two Royal Spoonbills at an inlet on the edge of the harbour in the city I reside (Dunedin, Otago). Most attempts came out quite bad - i.e. not sharp enough. One shot I took I really enjoyed as it displayed in the viewfinder for that second. I thought it was a winner for sure. Once opened on the computer, my hopes faded. Date: 28 December 2007.

Fujifilm Finepix S5600
1/400 sec, f/4.5, ISO Auto (camera mode too) and 380mm optical zoom enabled
No flash (which I should have used)

Was stalking these birds, and eventually took the sacrifice to lie down in the mud at the water's edge. My first "successful" stalk, actually. Was rather pleased at how close I could get whilst doing this.

What I like is the somewhat comical activity represented with the bill wide open, expelling water droplets caught on camera mid-air. The water is great too,and looks interesting with its "waves" around the bird's legs. The image is sharp for the most parts (please don't forget this was taken on a five megapixel camera ;)) and has a tiny catchlight.

Now, go forth and critique! I have another similar photograph, showing both birds together. May post tomorrow depending on how this one comes out of "customs"! Thanks,

Paul

[IvoZafirov]

Hi Paul, it would be great if the image has more sharpness. The low angle is very good for the bird but the background is spoiling the image a bit, especially that the line between the water and the bank is at the same level as the bird.
Nevertheless I appreciate this photo as it took a lot of efforts and endurance of not pleasant feelings :-)

[Paul Davey]

Hi Ivo

At five megapixels, this is relatively sharp. But scaled down to 800 it is not! Unfortunately the posting limit restricts the sharpness of my photographs I've attached here. I wish you could all see the shot to it's full potential. I agree about the background. There is a roadsign and telephone pole which is rather bemusing. By bank do you mean the road and small cliffs? The line, I presume, is the causeway/rock wall. Again, an artificial feature included in the frame. Thanks for the feedback!

[Thonnaksar NOP]

IMHO, you loose sharpness in compression level of your file : even with many details in the BG, you image weights only 78Kb which means high compression !
Most of the pictures we see in this section are very sharp at 800Px only...

[Maxis Gamez]

Hi Paul,

I think the background is very distracting taking away from your subject. I always keep a close eye to the background as it can ruing your image. The light is very flat with strong darks. Remember to try to photograph early morning or later evening.

[Paul Davey]

Thanks for the comments all. I was hardly paying attention to the background whilst photographing these. They are one of my favourite birds and this was the first opportunity I had to shoot them so it was excitement that took over!

Paul

[JH Tugs]

The (even smaller) image you have in flickr comes out much better:

(from http://www.flickr.com/photos/pwhdavey/2144127373/in/set-72157603571815659/): (http://www.flickr.com/photos/pwhdavey/2144127373/in/set-72157603571815659/%29:)

http://l.yimg.com/www.flickr.com/images/spaceball.gifhttp://farm3.static.flickr.com/2182/2144127373_01afdcb309.jpg

I suspect the comments about compression are accurate. HTH.