Sulphur-crested Cockatoo portrait

[Ian Wilson]

When these birds land they invariably raise their crest for a few seconds providing an opportunity for the classic portrait. They sometimes raise their crest while flying but I have yet to nail one.

Canon 5DIII + 300 mm f/2.8L II, hand-held.

Manual, f/5.6, 1/3200 sec, ISO 250.

Processed in DPP4 and PS Elements.

Thanks for looking, critical feedback welcome.

Ian

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Very nice portrait of this fantastic specie. The crest feathers have that ´´proud´´ look and love the dark BG. Well done Ian.

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

Beautiful feather detail, handling of whites, eye contact. The dark BG works well against the whites. Nice one!

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Ian, well you certainly nailed this one. Excellent exposure on the whites, and lots to look at the raised crest. All great against the darker BG. You managed a sweet HA too. Well captured.

[Randy Stout]

Ian:

Soft, modeling light with nice sense of form. Displays well against the dark background, but glad it didn't go completely black.

Crest is great of course.

Cheers

Randy

[Marina Scarr]

You have created a stunning portrait here, and your composition is simply spot on. Love the white bird against the dark BG.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Wow . A very stunning portrait of this beauty. Love the detail and sharpness you managed to produce. Comp work very well.

Do they still get poisoned by the farmers down in OZ ?

TFS Andreas

[William Dickson]

Fantastic whites against the dark BG Really like this. Well done Ian

[Tom van den Brandt]

Very nice image Ian, love the crest

Cheers, Tom

[Ian Wilson]

Hi Andreas, Thanks for your kind critique. I am unaware of any authorized poisoning for some time. As you can image, it is very controversial. It happens on a limited scale in some drought years when food is scarce and the birds take advantage of grain farmers. The birds feed on the freshly sown seeds and germinating crop. The main species affected are Sulphur-crested Cockatoo and small cockatoo species, the Long-billed Corella and Little Corella. I might add that on the fringe of the city where I live, the Sulphur-crested Cockatoo destroys a lot of outdoor timber structures, including window frames, made from exotic timbers such as Douglas Fir and Western Red Ceder. Regards, Ian

[shane shacaluga]

Nice portrait. I would maybe try and go a bit brighter even on the whites to make the bird pop even more from the dark BG

Thanks for sharing

[Jim Crosswell]

Excellent image Ian! I like the raised crest, exposure, IQ, dark BG and composition.

[Ian Wilson]

Thanks everyone for your kind feedback and helpful advice. Regards, Ian