Camouflage

[Richard Stern]

A Large-tailed Nightjar well-camouflaged in a bed of leaves. Keoladeo N.P., Bharatpur, India, Feb. After much thought I decided to crop it this way, even though there are a lot of out of focus leaves at top right. Perhaps a larger f stop might have been better, but it was in heavy shade, and I didn 't want to use too slow a shutter speed. I was squatting, with the lens resting on my knees. Kudos to our guide, for finding the bird!

D300, 80-400VR, hand-held.
Focal Length: 270.0mm (35mm equivalent: 405mm)
Focus Distance: 4.22m
Aperture: f/7.1
Exposure Time: 0.013 s (1/80)
ISO equiv: 1250
Exposure Bias: +0.33
Metering Mode: Matrix
Exposure: aperture priority (semi-auto)

Richard

[Keith Carver]

The camouflage IS the story in this one, Richard! It's hard to tell the subject from the BG - a good thing for the subject. Amazing you found it. Good detail and eye contact, especially considering the slow shutter speed and hand held shot. How long is this bird? Congrats!

[Julie Kenward]

What a fascinating find, Richard. I'm pretty sure you have a bit of a color cast going on here. When I first opened it I felt like there was too much of a green tint but now I'm wondering if it isn't more of a cyan. You can really see it on the breast of the bird - right down the middle of the feathers where they crease together.

I'm not an expert on bird images but I think a slight head turn to the right (or you stepping a bit to the left) would have given you a stronger angle. The way it is presented I feel the beak is getting lost in the face.

Those two things aside, you have great clarity on the eyes and the camouflage is outstanding here! You definitely had a good guide that day. ;)

[Gail Spitler]

I think this is one terrific capture. I spent lots of time looking at it. The full face doesn't bother me. If it were mine, I might crop just a bit off the right, and run High Pass sharpening on the whole image - it seems to heighten the camouflage effect.
Big congrats!!!
Cheers
Gail