Common Potoo

[Norm Dulak]

Nikon D7000 w/Nikkor f/4.5-5.6 80-400mm vr lens @ 400mm, with SB-800 flash illumination,
hand held from a skiff
ISO 800; f/5.6, 1/500 sec; MM -0.33
PP: PS CS5 crop, levels, curves, eye color correction, sharpen; Topaz DeNoise 4 NR

This Common Potoo was spotted at night by a Peruvian Amazon Voyage expedition leader using
a search light. Because the eyes of potoos are highly reflective, eye color correction in PS
was needed following the flash exposure.

In this image, the feather coloration and pattern enable the bird to appear as an extension of the branch on which it is perched.

All comments and suggestions are welcome.

Norm

[Karl Egressy]

Very interesting looking bird.
Nice PP. work on the eye and a nice picture, Norm.
There might be some noise in the background.

[gail bisson]

This shows the camouflage very well.It is amazing that they can be spotted at all.
I would do another round of sharpening around the beak and face.
I would also consider cropping from the left to make this a true vertical composition but the downside of that is that you lose the berries.
Well done under difficult conditions
Gail

[arash_hazeghi]

it's an amazing specie and a nice settings. it looks quite soft however especially in the head area

[dankearl]

I agree about the focus on the head, but it is a very unique bird and I would love to get something like this.

[Joe Senzatimore]

Now that's an eye!!!! Fine image showing great detail. Strange looking animal.

[RakeshDhareshwar]

Very well done under difficult light conditions !!!

[Dave Leroy]

A very interesting looking bird and another keeper from some difficult conditions.

[Richard Unsworth]

One if the best CP pics I have seen, the eye is hypnotic, agree on sharpening
show more if you have them as these are way cool.

[Norm Dulak]

Thanks everyone for looking and for your comments. More sharpening of the head is good advice that I'll follow before making a print.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Cool bird, must have been a thrill to spot! I agree with the soft head issue, but at the same time your processing on the eye has made the pupil much sharper than the rest. I would soften the edges of the pupil to match the rest. Thanks for sharing this beauty!

[Norm Dulak]

Cool bird, must have been a thrill to spot! I agree with the soft head issue, but at the same time your processing on the eye has made the pupil much sharper than the rest. I would soften the edges of the pupil to match the rest. Thanks for sharing this beauty!

Thanks Daniel. You've added an interesting suggestion that I hadn't considered. That's greatly appreciated!

Norm