Resplendent Quetzal

The Resplendent Quetzal is a definite highlight of a bird photography trip to Costa Rica. They are incredibly beautiful but can be difficult to find, and getting one on a clean perch adds another layer of difficulty to the challenge of photographing one. Things all came together for me in this frame, taken during a scouting trip with Greg Basco for our 2015 workshop. I wasn't sure that this bird would be photographable when we first found it; the Quetzal was buried in a thicket of branches. But we kept working the angles and suddenly the vegetation opened up and the bird cooperated by staying on the perch for several minutes before flying. Looking forward to getting back to Costa Rica in 2015!

Canon 1Dx, 300 mm f/2.8 I, f/5, 1/500, ISO 1600, manual exposure, hand held

To give you an idea of what I'm talking about, here's a shot (taken by Greg) of the Quetzal when we first located him.

Great shot, Doug. Wonderful colors. Not often that this species lends himself to a horizontal comp. Worth sticking with it until you found the angle.

Terrific image, Doug, and bravo on capturing a horizontal image of this species. I think this may be the first in horizontal presentation for me. Amazing that you even saw the bird in that thick brush. I think the aperture you chose here worked well to keep your BG as subtle as possible.

Spectacular image of beautiful bird. Wonderful colours, beautiful tail feathers, nice details, hairdo and lovely composition.
Love the frame, Doug Sir.

Regards,
Satish.

Magnificent looking bird, great work Doug.

Hi Doug, love the placement in the frame, and I really like the striking colours on this species, not to mention the detail on the tail. I do like the angled position of the tail too. Lots of lichen to look over on the perch, and overall, nicely separated from the BG. Well captured.

A magical bird we all wish to see and photograph. The composition is great in this horizontal view and great to have the clear view over the bird. The tail marvelous and nice to see it with all it's detail. The setting is beautiful; love the photo of Greg too.
Can you tell us more about how you took this? Hide, no hide, hiking, audio, food? I wish I could go with you guys in 2015.

Freaking awesome Doug!

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Originally Posted by Lorant Voros

Can you tell us more about how you took this? Hide, no hide, hiking, audio, food? I wish I could go with you guys in 2015.

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I've definitely done my share of hiking to find Quetzals; usually up very steep hills. Luckily this bird was a short hike from our car. We did not employ a hide, audio calls, or food. Just found a Quetzal and took our time finding the best possible shooting angle.

Wow, what for a wonderful bird. Magnificent pose captured. Well done, Doug

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Originally Posted by Marina Scarr

Terrific image, Doug, and bravo on capturing a horizontal image of this species. I think this may be the first in horizontal presentation for me. Amazing that you even saw the bird in that thick brush. I think the aperture you chose here worked well to keep your BG as subtle as possible.

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Thanks Marina. Aperture is tricky with Quetzals because the tail feathers are long and the BGs are always busy. I could have shot f/2.8 and dropped my ISO, but the tail feathers would likely have been soft. I tried to balance out my desire for in focus tail feathers and OOF BG by stopping down a bit. I'm glad you like it.

Beautiful image in all regards. Love the loose crop showing the habitat as well.

Man, I lend you my lens, and you get the shot I wanted! I got a nice tight shot with your 600 mm but I definitely prefer yours -- turned out great, and I really like the space all around. That was a fun morning!

Cheers,
Greg

Very well done Doug!
A handsome guy indeed! that OP is great as you captured the habitat where they live and at the same time is not so intrusive and distracts from the bird. Now, on the second image it shows the hard places they like to hide from us photographers, but even there, you manage to get a very nice compostion!

By the way Doug, did you applyed NR on the BG? that looks so clean!

What An Bird..........

Great Shot,details,Bg,Colors, Love every bit of it.

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Originally Posted by Juan Carlos Vindas

By the way Doug, did you applyed NR on the BG? that looks so clean!

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Hi Juan Carlos. I always run NR on the BG. But the 1Dx is extremely clean at ISO 1600, and I didn't do much cropping. Here's a 100% RAW file crop of the shot; only default LR NR has been applied.

What a beautiful bird and overall scene. Love the colors and the perch with the growth on it. Pretty fortunate to get that long tail in a bent position which enabled you to use a landscape crop.
All looks great and I cant wait to get to Costa Rica one day soon and try to see and photograph one of these beauties. Well done Doug.

You weren't kidding when you said you worked the angle! The frame shows the habitat without the clutter ... tough to do when the habitat is what you showed in your second post! Not sure this could have been executed much better.

Fantastic image !

Thanks everyone for the feedback!