Male Olive-backed sunbird in contra light

[Nikolay Staykov - shotlandetsa]

The male Olive-backed sunbird photo is taken in full contra light, with fill flash (lately I use this technique quite often, because of the more pleasing and interesting look of the photo). The bird was in the bush, with the sun right behind it, creating this lovely (IMHO) background.

Mk3, 400/5.6, ISO 800, 1/500sec, f/5.6

Specific for the PP is only that I selected the throat and used the S/H to expose more details. The rest is a common editing.

[Juan Aragonés]

Nikolay happy 2009! I like the idea of this image, the bird hidden in the vegetation and the great play of OOF and sharp areas. In a perfect world the bird should be placed in the upper right corner and I would try to tone down the beautiful BG a litle bit. Hope to see more images from your travel to Singapore. Did you visited Jurong´s Birdpark?

[Nikolay Staykov - shotlandetsa]

Happy 2009 to you too Juan :)

Yes, among all the places I've visited is the Jurong too. I've taken lots of beautifull photos of non-asian birds, yet most of the time it was too dark for my 400/5.6 and the ISO 1600-3200 was only used with slight fill flash to keep the mood and get away of the documentary look of the image.

I've visited all the closly located to the Singapore islands and reserves and managed to get photos of the hornbill and other interesting birds too, including the White-bellied sea eagle :)

I was astonished how free the birds in Jurong are - most of them live in separated constructures as high as a 5-6 floor building and has a diameter of between 50m to 250m! There you have to keep your eyes open to see most of the birds, which are timid. Of course there are several bumptious species which are ready to land on your head, just to take the food out of you. The parrots are most playful and cute birds and we have a great time with them. I've taken dosens of clips with my SE C905, if you are interested I can send you some :)