Collared Aracari

[Steve Maxson]

This Collared Aracari (Pteroglossus torquattus) was photographed in Costa Rica during my recent trip with Doug Brown and Greg Bacso. These birds have a lot of personality and give the impression that they are always about to get into some sort of mischief. 1D 4, 500 mm f/4, 1/200, f/8, ISO 1600, tripod, natural light, baited with bananas. I toned down the lighter areas of the background, desaturated the brighter greens, cleaned up the beak a bit, and ran nr on the background. All comments are welcome and appreciated.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

A cracker of a shot, Steve. what a pose. Colors are great...so are the details. Absolutely loved it. No suggestions from my end. You nailed this one.

[Frank Schauf]

Excellent shot with a great perch.

[Randy Stout]

Steve:

Excellent pose, perch, colors, lighting.

I would soften the lighter areas behind the head with a bit more clone stamp work.

In a perfect world, if you could have been square to the perch so it stayed in focus, would have been nice, but truly a minor point.

Cheers

Randy

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the pose, perch, details, colours and composition. Well done Steve!

[Doug Brown]

I really like this pose Steve; a great head angle with bill and tail feathers pointed in the same direction and tail feathers clear of the perch. I like Randy's idea of softening the grayish white area next to the bird's head.

[Mike Milicia]

Cool bird, great pose and perch, and excellent composition ... nicely done!

[Karl Egressy]

Striking image, Steve. Excellent composition.

[gail bisson]

WOW!
Love the perch, pose , DOF and IQ.
I would tone down the whitish area around the neck. Otherwise a 10 out of 10 from me,
Gail

[Peter Dexter]

Wonderful capture with the dropped wing and angle of head and beak. Love seeing these toucans.

[Miguel Palaviccini]

This is a stunner! I'll leave the critiques to the pros on this one ;)

[Marina Scarr]

My favorite parrt of this image is that terrific pose but the perch is pretty awesome too. Lovely BG.

[stuart wanuck]

Wow war to go great pose and colors

[Dave Leroy]

Lovely pose Steve. Nice to see the tail clear of the perch. PP'n looks top notch as well with lots of feather detail and nothing over done.

[Diane Miller]

I have to argue with Gail. I'd rate it as an 11 out of 10!

[arash_hazeghi]

very nicely done! love the pose and details.

[vishaljadhav]

Very nicely presented, toning down the bg works great
bird is nicely captured and i am a big fan of that perch you have in there
lovely

[vikram potdar]

Lovely perch, the pose & head angle is awesome. Truly a spectacular image. Overall a good feel to this image. Loved it

[Steve Maxson]

Thanks for the comments everyone! Here is a repost with a couple tweaks to the background.

[Tim King]

WOW that's a great photo, Steve. Fine job.

[Greg Basco]

Hey, Steve. Fantastic image! I love the way the perch flows diagonally from front to back through the frame. Adds so much interest and, when coupled with the pose you got, really makes for a dynamic image. Original exposure is great and your PP work looks right on to me. The repost was a nice improvement in terms of toning the lighter parts of the background behind the bird's head.

Cheers,
Greg Basco

[shane shacaluga]

What a fantastic image! TFS

Does this bird have a natural green tinge to it on wings, chest and legs?