Streaked Spiderhunter

[Tsechien]

I still have no idea why this fella is called such bcos I have never ever seen one hassling a spider before. A montane species, this fella is only found in elevations of 1000+m and above sea level.

Streaked Spiderhunter
http://www.pbase.com/tsechien/image/100284080/original.jpg

D200 AFS 300mm f2.8 VR 1.7 X TC
1/320s f/6.3 at (apparent) 500.0mm at ISO 400.

C&C quite welcome.

chien

[Krijn Trimbos]

I have seen these, and I know these are not easy to photograph! The shot is excellent, very cool pose, excellent headturn, nice setting and excellent sharpness! I am not completely sure, but I think the whiter parts on the belly should be compeletely white, if so than there is a slight yellow/green cast to your shot, easy enough to remedy. Congrats on such a great shot!

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

What an elegant bird! Very sharp and with good pose.
The only thing I find is the busy BG, but as some one said before, it can be worked out. May be fill flash would help?

[John Chardine]

I really like the original image for the reasons given above. There does seem to be a yellow cast. Never having seen the bird, I have tried a colour cast adjustment in LAB colour. I adjusted the B channel up in Curves. Is this more like the "real thing"?

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the alert pose, setting and eye contact. Unless there was an usually warm light I agree that lowering the color temperature and/or saturation helps. There is a slight sharpening halo around the bill. Thanks for sharing!

[Arthur Morris]

Even though the bird is angled ever so slightly away from you this is one spectacular image. I prefer the colors in the ORIG to the more subdued colors in John;s repost. Perhaps toning down the yellows just a bit might work. The image is so sharp, the bird amazing, and the background rather pleasing.

[Dan Brown]

I agree with all of the above. This bird and image are spectacular! I don't know what this species should look like, so both posts work for me. I would remove the web on the upper right and the bright blade of grass on the left coming out of the edge of the frame and maybe the two blades under your copyright sig. Dan Brown

[Daniel Cadieux]

Although you've never seen them hassling a spider they must hang out quite close to them as there is evidence of spider activity on the very perch it's on!! Sorry Dan, but I would definitely keep the webs there :-) I agree the original image is a little too yellow, but still quite spectacular.

[Tsechien]

Thank you all for the great feedback.

John - Thanks for posting the comparison. Perhaps the true colour balance is somewhere between my posted pic and your colour adjusted one as I used a custom cloudy WB which gave a warming effect on the pic. I used to find the auto wb setting on the D200 to be too cool - bluish/slight green cast and that cloudy even on a sunny day gives a more pleasing temperature.

Juan - yah fill flash would have (I think) cooled the pic a bit to a more accurate colour tone but I find that it can make the pic a bit flat. Thanks for that.

chien

[Simon Bennett]

I like the alert pose and crispness - very cool bird too.

[Ramon M. Casares]

I didn't see this one, my bad! It is indeed amazing, the pose and the colors are uotstanding, the details and sharpness great, and the BG goes very well with the bird as I see it! Congratulations!

[Tsechien]

Thanks Simon & Ramon for the kind feedback.

chien