White Helmet Shrike

[Gabriela Plesea]

I took this image in 2011 during my first trip to the Kruger Park. I had just bought my Nikon 500 lens then; the D300S was my camera at the time, later on I bought a D3S and I am still happy with it. Browsing through folders from the Kruger Park trip and based on the number of images I have deleted tonight, I am ready to sell my D300S's and start saving for a D4

I hesitate to post this image yet I have not seen a White Helmet Shrike in the avian section so far and I would like to share this with you. These birds are difficult to capture, they often hide in shrubs or dense vegetation and they almost never sit still. They are social, gregarious and also very pretty- the bright yellow eye always makes me think of a flower. This individual moved from shade to the sun and back to shade again-I followed him as he jumped from branch to branch and managed a few shots, this is probably the best one although I am sure you will tell me I have posted better images before



D300S
Nikon 500/F4
ISO 400
F5
1/400s

...err...not the settings I would use today
Had to clone quite a few branches in the BG...



Thanks for viewing

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

First of all thanks for sharing this striking bird. Love the way it posed for you, the eye contact and the two-toned background. Your cloning job is quite good.

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Gabriela,

Glad you stopped hesitating and started posting! Never seen one of these, but you have a wonderful capture here. I'm only familiar with the Loggerhead Shrike, and feel that the branch couldn't be more perfect for their style of dealing with prey.

Miguel

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Gabriela, no need to be hesitant, always great to see a different species in any of the Forums, just shows how diverse this planet is.

I quite like the pose as it clearly illustrates the fascinating detail around the eye. Not sure on upping the ISO on the D300s, but personally would have liked a bit more DOF. I would like to see a tad more image area below so you could move the whole crop down a fraction, WDYT? Can't comment too much on colour as I'm using the laptop at present, back Tuesday, subject to a big storm hitting tonight/tomorrow morning. I think your cloning worked well, but you know my thoughts on big changes.

TFS
Steve

[Danny Laredo]

Thanks for sharing the odd looking but yet beautiful bird.
Excellent pose perch and BG.

[Lyle Gruby]

Agree with everyone above. I am very glad you posted this bird. What an eye! Bird, perch and BG are very nice. My only crit I suppose is to echo what Steve said--a bit more DOF would be nice.

[Carl Walker]

Hi Gabriela. Looks like you beat me to it. Still looking for an opportunity. These are one of my favorite species here but as you say they can be quite mobile. If you have not already try reading up on them, there is some interesting stuff related to their behavior.

Lovely image of this bird and the detail and comp is great. That eye says it all.

[Greg Oakley]

Great bird and perch - nice work

[Girish Prahalad]

what a bird!! good that you decided to post it.
excellent pose, perch & details on the is one.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Gaby, great close up of a skittish character, and overall well exposed. The shrike is sharp, great eye, and I do like the BG. Steve has mentioned it, bit I would take some off the top, and add to the bottom.

[Gabriela Plesea]

Thank you so much for your comments and suggestions, very encouraging and I shall try be more daring in the future-I have a few interesting shots I would love to re-work and post.

In reply to your comments, I must say this is full frame and there isn't any space at the top or at the bottom. Well I could always "clone" some in, or rather, add canvas. On the cloning topic, to be more specific, I took out two thorns on the RHS behind the bird and a branch running almost (but not quite) in parallel with the one in the image. Also an OOF twig in the left corner. I have processed this before, but these days-after all the knowledge I have gained on BPN-I have to start again on each and every image if older than six months. At some point I wanted to go and delete from our website all the old photographs but eventually decided against it-I want the viewer to see the progress we have made, myself and Andre, over the past few months.

I can only find one excuse for not having the desired DOF: these birds move constantly. Looking at a sequence of images of this shrike, I notice they were at some distance when I started shooting. I must have seen this one landing nearby and took a shot, no time to change settings. The next frame is the same, thereafter I shot at 6.3 but the bird's head is turned away so the pose isn't great. Let me see what I can do with some other images I have of these guys. Quite a challenge, since they are on the ground, among very colourful foliage-I am working on it!

Once again many thanks for your input-I value your support and encouragement

[Karl Egressy]

Nice looking bird and very well captured. The head looks nice and sharp and just having the right turn. Excellent details.

[Doug Brown]

What an incredible eye! Love the perch and BG too. DOF has already been discussed, and I agree with the others that more would have been better. The feathers around the eye and on the bird's back look a little oversharpened to me.

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the pose, perch, HA, BG and the flower eye is amazing. Great image Gabriela!

[Gabriela Plesea]

Thank you so much dear friends! Doug-I think you are right about over sharpening, will look into it

Have a great evening,