Purple-rumped Sunbird Silhouette

[Aditya Sridhar]

This image of a Purple-rumped Sunbird was shot in heavy overcast lighting. As soon as I saw the bird perched on the tree, I immediately knew that I had to go the silhouette route to try and save the picture. It was windy too, so i had to increase my shutter speed even though it came at the cost of potentially high noise. In PS, I converted the image to B&W, increased the exposure and dropped the blacks. Noise turned out to be a non-issue in the end. Silhouettes aren't entirely my style, but I think this scene demanded a more artistic approach than keeping things natural. This photo was shot a couple of years ago, so looking back I can see a couple of things I could've done differently (like remembering to attach my tc!). I also tried a vertical crop without the third branch on the RHS, but it meant that the final result would be a massive crop, so I opted for a slightly looser 'birdscape' composition.

Camera - Nikon D850
Focal Length - 300mm
Aperture - f/4
Shutter Speed - 1/2500s
ISO - 2500
Handheld
Manual
Crop - 50% appx.

The bird wasn't baited or attracted by call playback. Thanks for viewing and, as always, comments and critiques are appreciated :bg3:

Adi

[dankearl]

Nice to try something different and nice to see something different...
However, bird is too small in the frame to call it a 'birdscape" for me.

[John Mack]

I can see what you were going for here. Like the idea and the high key treatment. Black and white was a good call.

[Dorian Anderson]

Love the high contrast feel, but I agree the bird is way too small to be an effective subject. If i was larger or had a more characteristic shape - like a huge beak or long tail - it would be a stronger image. But big props for trying
something different!

[kevin Hice]

Boy I like this a lot. It pops with the black and white high key.I would agree bigger subject would definitely be stronger. I need to try something different I think it increases your skill level. Good to see your artistic side got me thinking out side the box. TFS

[Aditya Sridhar]

Thanks a lot guys! I agree about the subject size. Gotta remember to attach the tc next time.

[arash_hazeghi]

I agree with all the comments above as is this image didn’t quite work

TFS