Tall Cuckoo (Fan-tailed Cuckoo)

[Paul Randall]

Fan-tailed Cuckoo (Cacomantis flabelliformis)
Eynesbury, VIC, Australia 29/4/2011

This one was up quite high (at least 5mts) but walking back a bit and using every bit of the 840mm EFL I had available has meant the angle is not much of an issue....I think, let me know

All comments welcome 8-) Paul

Canon 5D 600mm f4 L (non IS) +1.4TC iso 800 1/1000th f9.0 CW metering at +0 handheld
Photoshop- slight sharpen of features

[Geoff Warnock]

you handled the shooting angle very nicely, good self critique, and nice shot!

[christopher galeski]

ditto,very nice image,well done.

[Wynand van Wyk]

Super image captured! Like the detail and great background colour. I would maybe burn the perch a bit.

Great image, superbly done!:S3:

[Satish Ranadive]

Marvelous image with nice angle.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Paul, I dont mind the angle much as the BG is very nice and not plain sky. Beautiful bird with some very nice feather details. The alert, look back pose is excellent...makes a big difference IMO.

If mine, I'd crop from below and add some more at the top. That will reduce the impact of the large bright perch and will also make the angle appear less steep.

Very well done. Thx for sharing.

[Stu Bowie]

Paul, I like how the pose follows the line of the perch. I would leave the comp as is, and standing back was a good call, as the angle shown looks fine. I would maybe tone down the perch.

[Mitch Carucci]

I like the neutral background. Bird stands out nicely. A pretty pic.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Very nice, and the angle does not look steep at all. I'd leave the comp as is, but darkening the perch makes a huge difference. Here I used the burn tool: soft brush, sized at about 1/4 the thickness of the perch, range set to midtones, 8% opacity...made two passes.

I also used the sponge tool to milk more colour out of the breast feathers.

[Paul Randall]

Makes a big difference Daniel, thx for taking the time :S3:
Thanks for the comments all as well :)

[arash_hazeghi]

I like the pose, light and nice details I wish he had chosen a more attractive perch

[Nico Steenberg]

Great exposure, comp and bg with good light. A super IMG !