This is a New Zealand Tui sitting on a Kowhai tree in the Huka Fall car park from a recent trip in New Zealand. The Tui was very busy either trying to defend his tree from other birds or flat out sipping the nectar from the flowers... He did not sit still for very long at all. This was taken just after midday in quite harsh light with the nutzo bird jumping in and out of the shadows like a mad thing. This made exposing the image a bit of a challenge..
1D4 & 500F4 series 1 on a 5 series gitzo and Wimberley 2 head.
1/1250 sec @ F4.5 at ISO 1600, manual mode.
'
I lived in NZ for the first 25 years of my life and always thought these birds were black & white, same as shown on the label of 'Tui Beer', a popular local brew... It was quite a pleasant surprise to see their actual colour...
This is a really nice shot of a bird I have not seen before and I also like the added colour of the flowers.
I wonder if the flowers top left should be toned down slightly as they are very bright and distract from the bird for me.
Love the iridescence and the pose in it's typically habitat. I love this species and what a cool song they have. There's what looks like sharpening halo around the bird that I'd probably address. TFS.
You've done a good job making this bird stand out in a difficult environment. Lovely details and colors in your bird. I am seeing a halo around the bird's head and beak. Fun pose!
Thanks for showing a new species. Love the neck feathers and that single feather at the throat.
Bird looks great but the BG is awfully bright. I would selectively reduce the brightness of the BG.
If mine, I would clone out the branch that is intersecting the chest,
Gail
Thank you all for the comments. I did struggle with what to do with the background as i was not happy with it and was unsure whether to go high key or maybe adjust levels to darken it all. In the end I went slightly darker but stayed close to 'as shot' and added some NR. I think the halo is most likely due to an imperfect masking of the background for that NR. I should have followed my instinct and gone darker. I will repost tonigh with a bit more work on the BG.. The throat feather is also blown in a spot which I am sure some people will have noticed. The light was harsh, so I opted for detail in the blacks. Thanks again for the comments
Sidarth, this birds song means ''New Zealand bushland' to me...
Reprocessed from scratch. I readjusted the background in ACR using the highlights and exposure sliders. NR on background and a little sharpening on the bird. removed one branch from below the chest but the second below the throat was too much of a challenge at the junction to the throat feathers.. This about 75% of the original frame.
NZ Tui
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