Red-crested Korhaan calling

[Victor Soares]

http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/3011/korhaanredcrested.jpg

My favourite group of birds - the korhaans or bustards.

This is a male Red-crested Korhaan, one of the most common and less secretive of all the bustards. The name comes from a red tuft of feathers that display during mating rituals (I have never seen this myself). Love the way these guys call out for mates !!

Canon 40D
Canon 400L f5.6
1/640
f 5.6
ISO 400
Exp +1/3
Av
AI Servo

[Nicki Gwynn Jones]

Hi Victor,
Great pose and the tongue takes this over the top for me! I love the soft colours and the vertical crop works for me. Did you clone something out of the BG? I think that I can see a repeating pattern to the left of the bird's breast.
Best,
Nicki

[Arthur Morris]

Very nicely done. Love the sharpness and the passionate call. And of course, the tongue. A crop from the top and the left would improve the compositional balance; as is, the image is bottom-right heavy.

If you are open to smoothing out the BKGR, the techniques that I describe here:

http://www.birdsasart.com/bn294.htm

would work very well on this image. Scroll down to Photoshop Background Trick. And BAA Bulletins are free <smile>

[Connie Mier]

Very nice capture of a gorgeous bird! I would also want a tighter crop.

[Stu Bowie]

Hey Vic, great timing to capture the calling pose, and yes, the visible tongue certainly adds to this image. I feel the crop is fine, and if anything, I would maybe darken the BG a tad.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the head angle, pose and tongue. I like Artie's crop idea and would tone down the highlights on the back.

[edgar-junior]

Amazing capture of a nice bird!!! ;) Another vote for the tighter crop

[David Fletcher]

Excellent calling pose Victor. Another vote for a tighter crop. Can see what Nicki means re the oof bg. TFS. cool shot.

[Victor Soares]

Thanks everyone - to be honest, I also thought this was bottom heavy but wanted to check if other people felt the same way. Nicki and Dave, yes I did clone a stick out of the left side (thought I had done a pretty decent job of it - but maybe not)

[Ramon M. Casares]

Loved the pose, atitude, detail, colors and BG. IMO it doesn't need any change :) Congratulations!

[Chris van Rooyen]

Lovely head angle and sharpness Vic! background is also nice, I would suggest a slightly tighter crop.