Galah Portrait

[Ian Colley]

Hi all, my first image post for a while, this time with new gear.

I enjoy the challenge of bird portraits, not to sure about the head angle.

Moving from Olympus to Canon, at ISO 400 the files are a lot cleaner and need less PP. Still a long way to go but I can't believe how good this lens is :o)

Whites look a little hot on the crest, but no indication from the camera or CS3 Bridge, any hints on what I should be looking for would be much appreciated.

RAW, f5.6 1/100 ISO 400 Manual Exposure, 90% original, cropped left and right slightly.
Canon EOS 40D ,Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS USM ,EF 1.4x II Extender, BLUBB with IS on.

Levels, Curves smart sharpen.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the soft light, details and the exposure looks perfectly fine. Is your monitor calibrated? I prefer rectangular crops but this one works, too. I would only apply some NR on the BG.

[Maxis Gamez]

Lovely colors, composition and details. The BG is very clean and colorful. I would rather see the beak a little more.

[Robert Amoruso]

I like the soft light, pose and the beak is OK with me. BG also works great and is a nice contrast to the bird's colors.

The soft light did lower the contrast on the bird such that it appears flat. I reposted an version where I did a curves adjustment (using PSCS3 preset for linear contrast and then pulling up the three-quarter tone point and down the one-quarter tone point to increase contrast a bit more). I also did a levels adjustment, at set a white point off of the brightest feathers on the head and moved the mid-tone slider to brighten the image. I then did selective color adjustment and added 2% black to the black, neutral and white channels.

I also selected the eye and sharpened it. It appears critical focus was on the cheek below the eye and sharpening the eye brings attention back to the it.

The whites on the head are brighter then I would want but starting with the RAW you should be able to do better.

[Alfred Forns]

I like the re post a lot Bird looks much improved but might back down the saturation on the green bg? Great PS work Robert !!!!!!!

Image is very sharp and well exposed. Head angle looks fine to me. It is a very appealing image.

[Fabs Forns]

Whites look good in my calibrated monitor. This bird is eye candy :)

[Stephen Stephen]

Lovely capture here Ian, Robert's boosted and already great image. Fabs calls this eye candy. I might even cal it eye "Cotton" candy as the pink feathers remind me of that confection.

[Dean Ingwersen]

G'day Ian,

Welcome to the world of Canon!!;) Really nice portrait of a Galah...they have to be one of the most underated Australian birds. I think Robert's repost has just finished it off nicely. Great work.

[John Chardine]

I think this has everything you would want in a portrait. The head angle is great to show off the eye and the detail in the feathers is marvelous. I know what you mean about the lens. I've had mine for only a month and it surprises me regularly. Still ultimately it is only as good as the person behind. I still throw away lots but when you hit it dead on you see how the lens is able to perform to its capability!

[Ian Colley]

Thanks for the comments everyone, appreciated. Robert thanks for the rework, still lots to learn from my end.

[Simon Bennett]

A very fine portrait of a relaxed Galah, super detail and I like the glint in her eye.