Olive-backed Euphonia(Male)

[ChasMcRae]

Walking around the jungle trying to take tropic birds is usually an exercise in frustration. Sometimes you get "lucky" and I shot this bird perched in shade just over the gravel road I was walking down in Lamani area in Northern Belize-Central America.

Chas.

e: 156KB
Camera Model: Canon EOS 40D
Camera serial number: 1120719490
Firmware: Adobe Photoshop CS4 Windows
Owner: Charles W. Mc Rae
Date/Time: 2009:04:29 15:07:37
Copyright: ©Chas.Mc Rae
Shutter speed: 1/200 sec
Aperture: 6.3
Exposure mode: Av
Exposure compensation: -2/3
Flash: On
Metering mode: Multi-segment
ISO: 400
Lens: 600mm
Focal length: 840mm
Subject distance: 8.8 m
Image size: 523 x 800
Rotation: none
White balance: Auto
Color space: sRGB
Saturation: Normal
Sharpness: Normal
Contrast: Normal
Color profile: sRGB IEC61966-2.1

[Ramon M. Casares]

Very nice, great BG, pose, perch, comp, detail, light and colors although a tad more sat could improve this shot. Iwould suggest in this case, not to sharpen the highlight in the bill.
Big congratulations!

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Beautiful bird, good details and eye contact. I would give it more room top and bottom and crop a bit off the left to get the bird out of the center. I'm not sure about the saturation since I'm not familiar with the species.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Neat little bird, a real cutie! Nice and sharp. I don't mind the comp as is, but Axel's suggestion is another option. I'm finding the image a little dark, I'm not sure -2/3 EC was needed (although it did help in getting you some extra SS). Here is a reworked version with the midtones lightened, and the reflection on the bill toned down to minimize the flash effect.

[Arthur Morris]

****, Daniel is good. A lovely image with a killer repost. I love the bird and the BKGR. Way to go Chas and Dan!

[ChasMcRae]

The 40D overexposes especially in bright light and I had been shooting in light. Trudging and sweating down the road with a Wimberly and 600mm I never expected to see a tropical bird sitting calmly in the shade so I just shot away and even moved to try to improve background.
Reminds me of someone who said that "luck equals time in the field" and I think most of us agree with that. Thanks for the repost.

[Stu Bowie]

I like the colours in this, and by moving the bird a little to left would make this a winner. Well captured.

[David Thomasson]

The crop, position of subject, head turn, etc., all seem spot-on to me. Luminance and color, as others have mentioned, could use a boost.
You might try masking the subject so you can deal with subject and background separately, darkening the latter.

http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/4381/euphonia.jpg

[Doug Brown]

I'm not sure -2/3 EC was needed (although it did help in getting you some extra SS).

I agree for this image, although you can underexpose for the BG as long as you crank up your flash EC to maintain a proper exposure on the subject. This technique can really help in the rainforest. The bird looks underflashed to me.

[ChasMcRae]

Thanks for all the advice.
Flash in the tropics is a balance all the time and especially when you get surprised by a bird.
The last repost may have slightly overdone it,but agree that it needed a boost.
We are beginning to get the Velvia look ,but I did love Velvia.
Chas.