Yellow-collared Lovebird preening

[Ian Wilson]

Captured in Tarangire NP, Tanzania, 5 April 2015

Canon 5DIII + 600 mm f/4 II + 1.4x III extender, hand-held.
Manual, spot metering, spot AF, f/7.1, 1/640 sec, ISO 800.
Processed with DPP4 and PS Elements.
Thanks for looking, critical feedback welcome and appreciated.

Regards, Ian

[Daniel Cadieux]

I love the laid-back look while it is preening itself. Very sharp, and I like the subdued lighting. Bummer about the branch running behind the head but I really like the habitat overall.

[Satish Ranadive]

Excellent image in habitat. Beautiful preening pose, colors, details and nice composition.

Regards,
Satish.

[Bill Dix]

Great preening pose. Good light in what looks like difficult shooting conditions. Nice detail on the bird. Was some blur applied to parts of the BG?

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Ian!

This is so cute - love the preening pose, those beautiful vibrant colours and especially those various shades of green.

Subject nice and sharp and good detail in the feathers.

I too like the habitat and the above-mentioned OOF branch behind the bird does not bother me that much, just wondering - perhaps some other vegetation got in the way, but it does seem a little odd that the branch is "incomplete" (I refer to that area on the LHS of the subject's head).

Wonderful capture, never seen a Lovebird in the wild, I enjoyed viewing:)

Kind regards,

[Joseph Przybyla]

Beautiful bird, lovely colors bird and background, wonderful feather detail. Thank you for sharing, Ian.

[Ian Wilson]

[QUOTE=Gabriela Plesea;1073329]Hello Ian!


I too like the habitat and the above-mentioned OOF branch behind the bird does not bother me that much, just wondering - perhaps some other vegetation got in the way, but it does seem a little odd that the branch is "incomplete" (I refer to that area on the LHS of the subject's head).

Thanks for your feedback Gabriela. I too was a bit flummoxed when I saw the 'incomplete' branch but on closer inspection I concluded there was a bunch of leaves behind the bird that was obscuring the branch in question. Kind regards, Ian.

[Ian Wilson]

Great preening pose. Good light in what looks like difficult shooting conditions. Nice detail on the bird. Was some blur applied to parts of the BG?

Hi Bill, Thanks for your feedback. The back light through the vegetation was a nuisance and I had to move around to find an angle where the foliage was reasonably closed. Apart from cropping, the only adjustment I have made is to the gamma curve using shadows and highlights, a tiny change in colour temperature and output sharpening after downsizing. No blur or cloning was applied to the background. Kind regards, Ian.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

I don't mind it as is, but would prefer a lower POV and less intrusive habitat. For a record shot this is certainly splendid enough.
Thanks for sharing

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Ian, great preening pose, and nice and sharp with good DOF. I do like all the greens in the image, and Im fine with the BG as is. We have to accept where our subjects perch.

[Ian Wilson]

Thanks everyone for your generous feedback and helpful advice - all much appreciated. Kind regards, Ian.