Results 1 to 9 of 9

Thread: Flame Bowerbird

  1. #1
    Forum Participant
    Join Date
    Jul 2014
    Location
    NSW, Australia
    Posts
    141
    Threads
    24
    Thank You Posts

    Default Flame Bowerbird

    Name:  Flame Bowerbird_Matthew Jones_8893_1200.jpg
Views: 126
Size:  364.3 KB
    Click here for Flame Bowerbird video and other PNG birds

    Flame Bowerbird (Sericulus aureus).

    One from 2013 that I thought I'd share as this bizarre species isn't photographed all that often. The red/orange is ultra reflective and difficult with flash, impossible without it. I was lucky to time my arrival at Kiunga with the departure of the BBC film crew and was able to make use of the hide they had set up over the three days I was there.

    Nikon D4, 420 mm, f/4, 1/320s, 1SO 1250, Tripod, flash

  2. #2
    Forum Participant
    Join Date
    Apr 2012
    Location
    Zagreb, Croatia
    Posts
    535
    Threads
    77
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    Like the frame, perch, pose and eye contact. I have no experience with the bird but it looks to me the red is bit over saturated so some details are missing. Could be I'm wrong. Nice bird. TFS.

    Cheers,
    Miro

  3. Thanks Matthew Jones thanked for this post
  4. #3
    Forum Participant
    Join Date
    Mar 2015
    Location
    Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
    Posts
    66
    Threads
    12
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    That's an astonishingly beautiful bird Matt, but I think Miro is on the right track. It looks to me as if it were slightly overflashed. As you probably know, brightly colored plumage is tough to expose accurately against such a dark background. My guess is that a stop or so less flash would have given you the light you needed without losing that feather detail.

    Not sure, but I seem to recall a 1/250 sec max flash sync speed for that camera. Were you using a high-speed sync setting (multiple, high-speed flash pulses) of some kind on your flash?

    Russ Norwood
    www.perceptivist.com

  5. #4
    BPN Member Bill Dix's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    Princeton, NJ
    Posts
    12,487
    Threads
    1,892
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    Now that's an amazing bird! I can imagine it would be really tough to expose perfectly. I think you came pretty close, but you might be able to eke a little more detail out of the red channel. Thanks for sharing this beauty.

  6. #5
    BPN Member Tim Foltz's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2016
    Location
    Southern CA
    Posts
    1,434
    Threads
    197
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    Matthew,
    Beautiful bird and pose but looks flat do to the flash, I still would like to have this in my collection.

    -Tim

  7. #6
    Super Moderator arash_hazeghi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    San Francisco, California, United States
    Posts
    18,553
    Threads
    1,320
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    very colorful specie, but as mentioned the red channel is totally blown, you need to go back to raw and then down the reds quite a bit

    TFS
    New! Sony Capture One Pro Guide 2022
    https://arihazeghiphotography.com/Gu.../Sony_C1P.html


    ------------------------------------------------
    Visit my blog
    http://www.arihazeghiphotography.com/blog

  8. #7
    Forum Participant
    Join Date
    Jul 2014
    Location
    NSW, Australia
    Posts
    141
    Threads
    24
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    Name:  Flame Bowerbird_Matthew Jones_8893_1200-2.jpg
Views: 51
Size:  358.1 KB
    Had another go with the reds and reduced the brightness a bit more, hopefully there is more detail in the RP, I think that reducing the reds has accentuated the flash bounce though and also it doesn't really reflect the true colour of the bird. I haven't seen a shot of this species which gets the detail in the reds (challenge, anyone got one?), even the video without external lighting couldn't capture it well. Will just have to go back and try again with different flash technique, maybe bouncing the flash off an umbrella thanks all for CC's
    Last edited by Matthew Jones; 05-29-2016 at 01:55 AM.

  9. #8
    Forum Participant
    Join Date
    Jul 2014
    Location
    NSW, Australia
    Posts
    141
    Threads
    24
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Russ Norwood View Post
    Not sure, but I seem to recall a 1/250 sec max flash sync speed for that camera. Were you using a high-speed sync setting (multiple, high-speed flash pulses) of some kind on your flash?
    Thanks Russ - the settings were TTL High sync, no strobe return and yes above 1/250 @ 1/320. Unfortunately I couldn't get the flash off the camera which I think was the biggest problem here, tnx.

  10. #9
    Lifetime Member David Salem's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Location
    Riverside, CA
    Posts
    6,664
    Threads
    276
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    What a great looking bird and you did well capturing it. The colors are awesome and the detail looks really nice too. Looks like that red is so vivid that getting it right is tough but I think it looks pretty good considering. Well done
    Come join me for a Custom Raptor Workshop starting this November 2019- January 2020.
    P.M. me to inquire on dates, pricing and availabilities. Thank You.
    www.davidsalemphotography.com

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
Web Analytics