Autumn greetings from the southeastern Palearctic! The Himalayan black bulbul ranges from its namesake mountain range east across southern China and into Taiwan and south into Southeast Asia. There are two main races, one with the head all black and the other with the head all white. My two main guidebooks have the Himalayan black only summering in Hangzhou, 180 km southwest of Shanghai at 30 degrees N 120 degrees E. But I found a large, thriving colony in the Botanical Gardens just 10 days ago. Most Himalayan blacks of the race leucocephalus have clean white heads and are very attractive. My bulbul for some reason has black spots dirtying up the white, but I love the pose, which suggests ecstasy and transcendence. This photo has undergone heavy Photoshopping. I saw in the raw shot the chance to tell a simple story of the bulbul celebrating autumn. The rhododendrons were gumming up the works. Unedited shot posted below.
Device: Nikon D300
Lens: VR 600mm F/4G
Focal length: 600mm
VR: ON
Aperture: F/4
Shutter Speed: 1/200s
Exposure Mode: Manual
ISO Sensitivity: ISO 400
11-22-2010, 02:16 AM
Craig Brelsford
1 Attachment(s)
The original shot.
11-22-2010, 04:21 AM
Waqar Amin
I love the entire scene (color and bird itself).
Simply great.
11-22-2010, 05:24 AM
John Wright
Very nice! Great colours, composition and pose. I might have included more of the top branch at the top of the frame to get a bit more of the autumn foliage in the image...
11-22-2010, 07:16 AM
Greg Basco
Craig, I really like the feel of this image, and I think you did a great job handling the exposure. Seeing what you saw through the viewfinder, I definitely would have gone immediately to vertical position in the field rather than cropping after the fact. But I still think the cropped vertical works well for presentation here.
Cheers,
Greg Basco
11-22-2010, 08:54 AM
Craig Brelsford
Hi Greg, thanks for the tip about going vertical. In the field, I try to remain aware of the possibility of going vertical. In this case, however, putting the camera in a vertical position would have given me the same shot after processing, because I wasn't very close, and there was no possibility of getting any closer, as the bulbul was high above me.
11-22-2010, 10:00 AM
Jim Crosswell
I like the pose and colours as well as the information. Beautiful image Craig!
11-22-2010, 01:12 PM
Stu Bowie
Great job with the pp work Craig, and I really like the pose with the open beak. Good colours in the BG too. Our Bulbul's are totally different to your species.
11-22-2010, 03:20 PM
Pieter de Waal
Lovely image Craig love the pose and feel of this one. Good PP work and well conceived from original.
11-22-2010, 05:40 PM
Ákos Lumnitzer
If I may say the only things that slightly take anything away are the bright spots in the BG, probably not a lot you could have done at the time, perhaps a slight shift in shooting position. It's a wonderful image otherwise with a super pretty bird (surely a different one too, which is great to see) and good pose. Well done overall mate. :)
