Ecuador Woodnymph

[ChasMcRae]

Face on portrait of perched Fork-tailed Woodnymph along eastern slope of Andes.

Chas.

Fork-tailed_Woodnymph_IMG_0001 copy.jpg
File size: 148KB
Camera Model: Canon EOS 20D
Firmware: Adobe Photoshop CS4 Windows
Date/Time: 2007:02:20 11:52:00
Shutter speed: 1/250 sec
Aperture: 5.6
Exposure mode: Tv
Exposure compensation: -1/3
Flash: On
Metering mode: Multi-segment
ISO: 800
Focal length: 600mm
Image size: 680 x 800
Rotation: none
Color space: sRGB
Color profile: sRGB IEC61966-2.1

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Beautiful bird and colors. I would prefer a different angle to see more of this bird and would remove the two white patches on the perch.

[Randy Stout]

Chas:

Unbelievable colors here. I do think the green on the forehead, and a little of the blue on the wing is blown. When I checked it in NX2, both of those areas showed as overexposed. I desatted the image just a couple of points, and the blinkies went away. I suspect there is more detail to be had as well.

Thanks for sharing this great looking bird. I do agree with Axel that a different pose might show to even greater advantage.

Randy

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Oh Charles, those glowing marvellous colors! I love this bird indeed. I have to agree that a more side-on angle would enable us to appreciate its beautiful being more. I would love to see one with the bill! THanks for posting.

[Stephen Stephen]

Beautiful looking bird here Charles. I might have gone with F6.3 to bring more of hte bird in focus but I'd still be happy to have added this to my collection.

[Peter Hawrylyshyn]

Charles -
A lovely HB . Looks like you were in a catch-22. To get the beautiful irridescence of forehead and gorget - a face portrait is often the best way , but then you'll encounter DOF limitations with a 600mm lens at 5.6 - not to mention looks like you were in very dark conditions. Less flash would probably have helped preserve detail/colors of forehead.
I qould also perhaps crop off some of the OOF branch (especially on left side).
Still nicely done and thanks for sharing.
PH

[Nate Chappell]

The irridesence is wonderful here Charles, a bit more depth of field to get the feet and belly in focus would have improved this imo.

[ChasMcRae]

As most people know here using single flash as opposed to multiple flashes there are great limitations in showing irridescent colors of hummingbirds. When this bird turns and I am using a single flash you will lose irredesence color-not necessarily all but a good bit. I will try to post this bird later turned with single flash and will see the difference. Certainly multiple flashes are better to show irredescence consistently
but still can take nice images with single flash setup. If you are going to these areas with one flash dont hesitate to shoot.
Anyway Ecuador is a treasure for hummers.
Chas.