Rainbow Bee-eater

[Jon Thornton]

Nikon D300, TC-14E teleconverter, Nikon 200-400mm VR, tripod, hide.
Two flash heads both at 1/4 power, triggered by Pocket Wizards.
IS0 500, 1/250th sec, f/11.
Noise Ninja on BG. Lots of dodging and burning.

These birds migrate from northern Australia to the southern states for summer. I reckon I probably only have another month or two to photograph these birds before they disappear again for another 7-9 months.

[Ken Watkins]

WOW or words to that effect.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Very impressive looking specimen. I would only smooth out the darker spots above the head and LLC.

[Joe Senzatimore]

Beautiful.
BG , color , exposure and detail all come together to make an outstanding image.

[Dave Mills]

Hey Jon...Real nice job on this one....From exposure, sharpness, placement and backround all come together to make a beautiful image!!

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Great head angle, colors and BG. I might sharpen a bit less and work on the catchlight.

[Glenda Simmons]

ummm...I think I would spend the entire "last" month photographing this bird. What a beauty! You did a nice job, showing him off.

[John Chardine]

Agree this is great. Structural colour like this is difficult because the result can be harsh, and in soft light the colours don't show up as well. The bird seems a little cramped up top and to the right.

[Jon Thornton]

Thanks for commenting Ken, Daniel, Joe, Dave, Axel, Glenda and John.

Daniel, I think I could avoid the dark areas by adjusting my shooting position slightly. I might try this.

Axel, I think you are right about the catchlight. There were two catchlights; one from each flash. I might have cloned out the wrong one.

John, I disagree with you about the bird being cramped, but I do think the crop needs work. The bird seems unbalanced within the frame. He just isn't sitting quite in the right spot. Perhaps this is what you meant. If so, then I completely agree with you.

I will post at least one more Bee-eater shot. I thought I would start with a simple portrait and follow up with some behaviour shots.

[John Chardine]

This is what I was thinking about Jon (excuse the quick cloning of the perch etc). I agree, I think another way of saying it is that the bird did not seem to be in the right part of the frame. Anyway, see what you think.

[Art Kornienko]

I think easing off on the sharpening too. Beautiful shot though.

[Ramon M. Casares]

Art, that was what I was going to say too, it looks a bit oversharpened, the rest has been said. Congratulaitons! Terrific species.

[Gerard Satherley]

Wonderful image Jon. Great light, pose and background.

[James Salywoda]

Stunning! Love colors and detail captured so perfectly.

[Jon Thornton]

John, thanks for the cropping suggestion.

Art, I think the sharpness is largely due to the way I lit this shot. The light angles created lots of little shadows around each feather barbule. This in turn increased the micro-contrast in the shot making the bird look much sharper than it would if it were lit by natural light. I use this approach occasionally to add a bit of variety to the look of my shots.

Ramon, Gerard and James, thanks for commenting.

[John Chardine]

John, thanks for the cropping suggestion.

Art, I think the sharpness is largely due to the way I lit this shot. The light angles created lots of little shadows around each feather barbule. This in turn increased the micro-contrast in the shot making the bird look much sharper than it would if it were lit by natural light. I use this approach occasionally to add a bit of variety to the look of my shots.

Ramon, Gerard and James, thanks for commenting.

I think this is one reason why structural colour is such a challenge to capture.

[Jon Thornton]

John, I'm not what relevance structural colour has to the sharpness of this image. Colour and B&W versions of this image have identical sharpness.

What techniques would you use to accurately capture structural colour (colour caused by interference effects) as opposed to colour caused by pigments?

[John Chardine]

John, I'm not what relevance structural colour has to the sharpness of this image. Colour and B&W versions of this image have identical sharpness.

What techniques would you use to accurately capture structural colour (colour caused by interference effects) as opposed to colour caused by pigments?

Jon-This is opinion, not established fact, but I suspect that the sheen or outright shine that one sees in brightly-lit structural colour gives the appearance of over-sharpening when in fact it's not. I have noticed this effect in male Mallard heads, lit by direct sun. The effect disappears in soft light.