Hi Guys, Enjoyed a holiday in Queensland recently, and for the first time saw these beautiful little birds incessantly feeding on a Hibiscus just outside the window... Hope you enjoy. 1D4 & 500F4, 1/320 sec @ F11, ISO 1250. The lens was hand held but rested on the balcony rail outside our room. The image is about 70% of he original and I have cloned out a bit of disjointed leaf from the top RH side. Processed in CS6 using ACR, Nik sharpening DON
Beautiful capture, Don! Sunbirds are not easy to photograph, I planted hibiscus flowers in my garden and lots of aloes to attract them and nowadays the birds are around, yet as soon as place my camera on the tripod they seem to disappear . I can walk past them these days and they don't seem to mind me much, but when they see the lens they fly away! I like your composition here, I personally would have tried to fade a bit the OOF leaves at the top - I normally paint with black, soft light, at 20%, or use the clone tool. The colours are stunning and lots of detail on the bird as well as flower- lovely image, Don!
The flower is beautiful...as is the bird, and I like the backside view with the tongue sticking out. I agree that there is a head angle issue here, (not for the bird of course :) I also wish the light had been flater and less contrasty, as the highlighted areas of the leaves do distract in the overall scene. Not sure how much room you had to move around...i.e. stand on a chair, kneel, move left or right,...but the straight edge in the background in the upper part of the frame, resulting in a black rectangular form to the right of that, says "hand of man" to me...but maybe there was nothing to be done about controlling that....
Thanks guys... Guess what, I posted the wrong image...! Was in a rush last night, can't believe it.. The 'correct' image addresses most of the comments as I agree completely..
I have posted this now Gabriela, its in a separate post. Your 'problems' with Sunbirds seeming to be fearless of you unless you have the camera seems to extend to most species with me... I can watch a bird for hours but the moment I sneek of to get the camera...you know what happens...
Shawn, you are right, what you can see in the BG is the edge of a caravan (trailer house) in the distance. In the image i planned to post this edge was blurred a little along with removal of the hot leaf. Movement was a little restricted however I honestly did not see that during composition... These birds don't sit for long...
Yellow Bellied Sun Bird
. I can walk past them these days and they don't seem to mind me much, but when they see the lens they fly away! I like your composition here, I personally would have tried to fade a bit the OOF leaves at the top - I normally paint with black, soft light, at 20%, or use the clone tool. The colours are stunning and lots of detail on the bird as well as flower- lovely image, Don!
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