Long-billed Corella portrait

[Ian Wilson]

While I was trying to get some flight shots, this guy landed close to check out my camera brand. It looks like the tip of the bill may have been broken at some stage.

Canon 5DIII + 300 mm f/2.8L II + 1.4x III extender, hand-held.

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

Processed in DPP4 and PS Elements. The shadow of the bird's bill on the right shoulder was 'softened' using the dodge tool.

Thanks for looking, critical feedback welcome.

Ian

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the sharpness, details, exposure control, composition and how the BG compliments the blue around the eye. Did you add some canvas in front of the bird because I see a thin white strip there. I would have upped the ISO to get more DOF but I see you were set up for flight shots. Well done Ian.

[Binu John]

Excellent shot, Ian! Stunning details, beautiful BG and perfect exposure. Well done!

[Ian Wilson]

I like the sharpness, details, exposure control, composition and how the BG compliments the blue around the eye. Did you add some canvas in front of the bird because I see a thin white strip there. I would have upped the ISO to get more DOF. Well done Ian.

Hi Jim,

No canvas added but I think I can see what has happened. The first crop was to portrait 1703 pixels wide. I then decided to crop the portrait frame to landscape as you see it. I did not notice that the new width was 1704 pixels but I can now see a white strip which I had not previously noticed. After downsizing to 1200 pixels, this strip appears on my monitor as a dark blue strip and I had not noticed. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. Regards, Ian

[Joseph Przybyla]

Amazing detail, nice portrait. I guess it show the benefit of a high shutter speed when the light allows. Makes one wonder what the bird did to break it's bill. Thank you for sharing.

[Mervyn Marsh]

beautiful close up, wd

[Loi Nguyen]

Ian, Great details and sharpness, and colors. a little bit more DOF would be good.. With the 5D3, you could have shot this at ISO-800 easily to get more DOF. Loi

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Ian, well exposed on this fellow, and the feather detail really shows up. I do like the colours around the eye.

[Shawn Zierman]

One wouldn't want to get one's fingers caught up in that bill!! Gorgeous bird. Light being softer would be the only way this image could be improved. Love the color and texture of the skin around the eye. You did a very nice sharpening all the details.

[Tom van den Brandt]

Great details and colors Ian. The shadow that you have softened looks a bit like an OOF spot now but I can imagine that a hard shadow isn't great either. TFS

Tom

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Ian , great portrait of this gorgeous cockatoo.Very nice detail and colors .I would have left the shadow in . The sharpening does look a tiny bit to strong for me .You can overcome that by splitting the sharpen layer into lighten and darken , and reduce the lighten layer by an x amount .

TFS Andreas

[David Salem]

Great looking portrait shot Ian. I like the exposure and feather details in this one. Nice look at the "Bare Eye". That's the name these Cockatoos have taken in the US. Cool that you can get this close to these beauties. Well done

[Ian Wilson]

Great looking portrait shot Ian. I like the exposure and feather details in this one. Nice look at the "Bare Eye". That's the name these Cockatoos have taken in the US. Cool that you can get this close to these beauties. Well done

Thanks for your feedback David. Out of town it is not easy to get close but on the fringes of the city these guys are much more approachable. In common with most cockatoo species, they always have one or two 'look-out' guys that sound the alarm when you try to approach the flock. As you probably know, they are very sagacious and for birds, can live to a great age. My parents had a pet Little corella that had free range of their property for about 25 years before being taken by a goshawk. Regards, Ian

[David Salem]

Ian,
Thanks for the info. That's what I figured, they must be groups that are close to the city and civilization to be that approchable. A bird breeder and pet store owner friend of mine has a Cockatoo, a Moluccan, that he has had since he was twelve years old. My friend just turned sixty this year. Keep em coming

[Ian Wilson]

Thanks everyone for your generous comments and helpful feedback. Regards, Ian