A Koala in its natural habitat. My work involves long treks in trackless bush so along with other gear all I can carry is my Panasonic FZ200 to record sights such as this.
Panasonic FZ200 effective focal length 221 mm f4 1/500 iso100 image full frame auto curves and s&h treatment
Hi Colin - It's great that you get to see koalas in the wild. You did well with the bridge camera. Does it allow you to shoot in raw and did you do so? If yes, I would try to tame the highlights a bit more in whatever raw converter you use. You can also use a luminosity mask. This koala looks darker/redder than those we typically see in zoos and on tv. Is it a different subspecies?
Rachel, thanks for the comment. The Koala's color is just a regional variation. No I shot this one as jpeg although the camera will shoot raw. However the light in this shot is about right for a hot summer midday in that area, pretty harsh really. When I approached this Koala was in the shade at the base of the tree and climbed up when it heard me.
Hi colin. Nice shot..! I think you were luck to find one low on the tree like this. From what I have seen, they are usually much higher. Was the tree in a hollow? We don't have them in the wild in Western Australia, so captive shots are my only chance. I would agree that only a few Australians have seen one of these in the wild. Even fewer kiwis (New Zealanders) have seen a Kiwi in the wild. You had to deal with the harsh OZ sunlight obviously, but I like have you have done...
Tried a RP here using a lumo mask @ 50% opacity, with some selective Nik DE (detail extractor) on his rump and other bright highlights in the BG bush, keeping that wild colour -having seen quite a few myself in QLD and in Kuringai NP (where I grew up) when they were present over 30 years ago.
Koala
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