Emu portrait

There are a lot of these large birds contained in an old defence property about 800 meters from where I live in Sydney's west. Mostly, you can observe them by the fence along the main road, and I have long wanted to capture one for my collection. I wish I did have nice warm light, but had to be happy with overcast skies.

Cloned out a small grass blade from the bottom of the eye and burned some highlights on the back of neck.

http://australasiaforum.net/australa...ach=2359;imageFull frame, no crop. Pressed lens against fence and moved glass around so wire is not visible along edges. http://australasiaforum.net/australa...ult/smiley.gif

Camera Model Name
Canon EOS 30D
Shooting Date/Time
8/10/2008 13:12:57
Tv(Shutter Speed)
1/1250Sec.
Av(Aperture Value)
F5.6
Metering Modes
Evaluative metering
Exposure Compensation
0
ISO Speed
800
Lens
EF300mm f/4L IS USM
http://australasiaforum.net/australa...ify_inline.gif

Great portrait. I like the soft light, details and BG and would crop a bit off the left. Why are the birds contained?

The site is about 1,500 hectares on the outskirts of Sydney north of Penrith. It used to be owned by the defence department and they made ammunition there in places. It has been closed off for God knows how long and I am led to believe that there were many kangaroos and also emus released into the contained land. Now, a developer is building some 8,000 houses on site and while they are preserving some of it as regional parks, a lot of tears have flown down the drain as this is one of the last 6% of remaining Cumberland Plains woodland habitat. So not much else after.

Anyway, now that I think of it, the thread may be better in the hand of man section?

feel free to move pls if deemed appropriate :)

http://www.adisite.org/

How unfortunate they cut the trees there for another suburb. If the bird can't leave then it seems more appropriate for the other avian forum.

Akos
I, too like the lighting for this one. You have wonderful details in the portrait and nice colors....both on the bird and to compliment from the BG. I might be tempted to crop a little from the left to get the eye out of the center. It's always a shame to hear of more habitat being lost.

Lovely details and clean BG. I wish for more eye contact but that's about it for me!

Very nice portrait Akos - very sharp indeed. Maybe with that shutter speed you could have gone for a bit more DOF to get the neck and rear head a bit sharper.

Nice and sharp. You did well to avoid the fence effect. The twig in its mouth gives it character.

Hi Akos,
I like the close up pose. The details are sharp and the color rendition is just perfect...good show...:cool: