More Hornbills!

Attachment 145572

Trumpeter hornbills in Zambia.
Canon 6D Zeiss 80-200 @200
Handheld, manual focus
1/125 ISO 400 f/5.6

I know, distracting junk at bottom. But they like to hide and it's part of the environment, right?

The "junk" at the bottom doesn't bother me as much as the busyness of the background. Maybe a tone-down of color to let the darker birds stand out?

A simple step to the left would have probably avoided the FG branch and perhaps the two dark branches over the RH subject. Take the first shot, check the histogram and the composition, this will highlight any issues in the composition i.e. distracting elements and allow you to address any camera settings too. The busy BKG is what it is, likewise the saturated/vibrance as the light streams through the canopy, so personally I would leave as is, as it reflects the scene. Nice plumage.

TFS
Steve

Thanks, all.

Here I toned down the BG and lightened up the birds. In a way I like it better. :)

Attachment 145615

I like it better, too. I would have done a little desaturation on the yellows, and then you might not have had to darken it so much. Nice sharpness on the front bird. The leaves in front of it are unfortunate.

Is there a little more on the right? The crop feels a little tight.

The OP has a better feel to the canopy & saturated light, the RP is just too dark and not that natural looking now IMHO.

FWIW I prefer the original too.

Have you ever tried using flash and underexposing the background a bit? It may give you the look you are looking for. It looks like you may benefit from flash in this post and your last. But you may also scare off your subject as well:S3:

Looking at it again, I agree the RP is too dark. Here's an in-between. with the birds a little brighter and the canopy a little less saturated. Not perfect -- it's a little too bright and flat now, but just tossed out anyway. Also reduced the cyan on the birds a little -- that's a matter of taste.