Toucan portrait

[Steve Maxson]

Another from my Costa Rica trip with Doug Brown and Greg Basco. I was set up to photograph tanager/honeycreeper-sized birds when this Keel-billed Toucan (Ramphastos sulfuratus) showed up instead. Fortunately, it gave me a few nice poses where I could get the entire beak within the DOF. 1D 4, 500 mm f/4 + 1.4X, 1/500, f/8, ISO 800, tripod, natural light. I cleaned up some small bits of debris on the beak and applied nr to the background. This is about 80% of the full frame. All comments are welcome and appreciated.

[vishaljadhav]

Dont beat me up for this, however when i saw this image , i thought you were sitting with a colour palette

The details are impressive , the colors as i said i just cant get my eyes of them still, the details retained in the black, brown and yellow are super. I am totally in love with this image

Again, Were you sitting there with your personal color palette ?

[Grace Scalzo]

I would love to design a child's bedroom using these colors and this image as my inspiration. It is just so beautiful, vibrant, and fun.

[Karl Egressy]

Excellent soft light, nice details in the yellow and dark red and blue. Well done, Steve.

[PRABIR BHATTACHARYYA]

Steve, I don't know what to say. I would somewhat echo what Vishal said...Were you sitting there with your own color palette?

[Randy Stout]

Steve:

What a riot of color!

Nice techs of course, with good details in the darker areas, not that you notice that at first because of the overpowering colors.

Soft light really helped you here. I don't know if the top of the mandible is naturally lighter than the rest, or if this is a side effect of the light. Might be worth a bit of burning in to tone that area down a bit.

Cheers

Randy

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

This is just gorgeous! Amazing colors, great detail and sharpness!! Am sure you are proud of this. Cheers

[Bill Dix]

The colors are simply stunning, and the details on the bird are no less so. A gorgeous image helped out by good light. The only thing I might have considered would be to move the bird up just a tad in the frame (although it looks like the eye is at about a 1/3 point, so maybe not.)

[Melissa Groo]

That's a wallhanger if I ever saw one. Beautiful job, Steve. The details and colors are staggering.

[Gen Benjamin]

Amazining image, beautiful soft light, great detail and phenomenal colors. the eye just pos at you.
Gen

[Mike Tracy]

One of the most eye catching colorful bird images I have seen in a while. I wouldn't change a thing except wish his eye wasn't as reflective.

[Marina Scarr]

This image is over the top good, Steve. I am so glad that your trip was such a success.

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Amazing details and the colors are out of this world! What a fantastic bird!
If anything, I wish the eye was turned just a bit more our way.
Your image has moved Costa Rica to the top of my list of desired destinations :)

[Doug Brown]

Well done Steve! That's as sharp a Toucan picture as I've ever seen! In answer to Randy's question, the top of the upper mandible is particularly prone to overexposure, even in fairly low light.

[Shawn Zierman]

What a bird! And yes, the colors are something else...
Wonderful image, well composed, nice light quality...could see a case to be made for a slight
head turn towards us...

[Frank Schauf]

Beautiful and colorful porträt.

[Robert Holguin]

Excellent head shot.
Terrific comp, excellent feather detail, wonderful background, and love the colors.
Well done.

[David Salem]

Beautiful portrait with unreal colors. Exposure and details are perfect. Very nice work

[Steve Maxson]

Thanks for the comments everyone! What can I say - this bird is VERY colorful!