Lilac Breasted Roller

[Rachel Hollander]

It wasn't all mammals, all the time for us on our recent South African safari. However, it seemed like most birds flew off as soon as we stopped the vehicle or were hidden in thicker bushes. This LBR posed quite nicely for us while we waited as a leopard cautiously and slowly moved on an unsuccessful hunt.

Canon 7D
300 II
1/1250
f5.6
ISO 800
HH from safari vehicle, cropped from horizontal to vertical, luminosity mask, levels, curves, selective burning on the beak, sharpened in CCPS.

C&C welcome and appreciated. Thanks,

Rachel

[Andy Shepherd]

Superb portrait, Rachel...lighting, perch and pose all work very well together. Also, the super fine feather detail that you captured is very good.

Andy...

[Loi Nguyen]

Hi Rachel, nice pose and perch. Glad to find you here in the Avain forum. Not sure what the time/lighting conditions, but i find the image a bit flat. But ehn I imported your image into CS6 and the colors look much better. So perhaps check your color profile and how the image was saved for Web. Loi

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Excellent image Rachel, like the curious pose, the simple BG and nice perch.

[Holger Leyrer]

Wonderful image. Lovely light, pose, perch and bg.

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Really nice roller. The bird using that perch (acacia I suppose) makes for a special image with good details and light. The vertical composition works great for this one.

[keith mitchell]

Rachel that is one prickly looking perch,I do like the way you have cropped this, can't find any nits to pick it looks very good to me.

Regards Keith.

[Joe Senzatimore]

One of the best images I have seen of this species.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Rachel , nice pose, perch and colors. I am with Loi about being a bit thin in tones ,adding a small amount of blacks to the neutrals would help , i feel .

TFS Andreas

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks everyone for the very kind comments and suggestions. They are appreciated.

Rachel

[Steve Kaluski]

For once Rachel this species kept still for a few moments for us, nice capture. Be interesting to see the comparison as I may have popped a CP on my lens, however that will not be for a while. Nice, clean BKG and the tree offered a nice perch with just the right amount of curve. Personally I think you could loose a little off the top?

The slight tweak in PP has helped I think, too.

TFS
Steve

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Rachel, a bit late to the party. LBR's are one of the few bird species that will generally 'stay put' while you get more than enough shots of them. Your comp suits the the pose nicely, and you have brought out the finer plumage very well. Sharp, and the colours look spot on. Great that the roller was perched on an open branch.

Missing Africa yet?

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Steve and Stu. Stu - definitely and always

Thanks again,
Rachel

[Binu John]

Excellent shot with a lot of feather details! Love the exposure and composition. TFS

[Peter Scholer]

Love the pose and how well you captured this beautiful bird. Sharp and nicely composed.