Female Pheasant

[Steve Kaluski]

Whilst waiting for the Little Owls to show, it's nice to have the opportunity to shoot other 'passing by' subjects that venture into the shooting zone. Not the ideal location with all the tall grasses which get in the way, but often 'masked' to a certain degree with Dof, although one or two brighter stems have been dealt with within PP. Some plumage also has some areas overlaying by the grasses.

Thanks to those who viewed or posted a comment on the previous thread.

Steve

Subject: Female Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) head shot
Location: UK
Camera: Canon 1DX MKII
Lens: 500f/4 MKII with 1.4x MKIII HH
Exposure: 1/1600s at f/5.6 ISO1600 EV +0.67
Original format: Portrait, slight crop
Processed via: LRCC & PSCC

[keith mitchell]

Steve I can see what you say about the grasses which do give a minor distraction,I think the lovely natural feather detail and the IQ which looks spot on to me more than makes up for the grass thing.The colour is perfect.

Keith.

[Steve Kaluski]

Steve I can see what you say about the grasses which do give a minor distraction

Cheers Keith, all you can do is work with what you have out in the wild, no chance of 'honing' the environment.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Beautiful bird, it appears to be what would be a Golden Pheasant here. The grasses do not bother me. I think darkening the mid-tones just a tad would add more depth, but you know best. Thank you for sharing, Steve.

[Steve Kaluski]

I think darkening the mid-tones just a tad would add more depth, but you know best.

Joe, I've been quite conservative on it, I might revisit with a fresh par of eyes later, as today had been a lot of PP, trying to catch up. You could well be right, but it might not be in the mid tones, perhaps the darker ones, lets see, thanks.

[Bob Smith]

A fine portrait of Mrs. Pheasant Steve. Grass can be such a nuisance when photographing these birds when it gets between you and your subject. You can spend a lot of time waiting for them to walk into a clear spot---but I like the OOF grass here and would consider it to be an important element of the image. I also like the fine feather detail you've captured here on her cheeks and around the eye---this is the stuff that makes photography magical. The DOF revealed here is notable---1/2 the width of a pheasant's neck and you go from sharply in to starting to blur.

[Glennie Passier]

Steve, love the fine feather detail and the beautiful eye. Nice alert pose. The BG OOF grass does not, for me, detract from the image. I am not familiar with the bird's colouring so not able to comment...but Joe may have a good idea.

[Steve Kaluski]

Joe, took another look and just did some more Curves/Channels adjustments and some Luminosity Channel corrections, as you can see it's brought out more detail in and around the eye especially. That's the great benefit of Groups, Layers and masks as you can turn them on & Off, vary the degree without starting from scratch.

[keith mitchell]

Steve it looked good before but that as improved it,did not think it was possible.

Keith.

[Steve Kaluski]

Steve it looked good before but that as improved it,did not think it was possible.

Thanks Keith, as I said earlier, I was perhaps a tad too conservative on the OP, I subsequently just tweaked some Contrast Channels and bingo, a bit more detail/depth in the head. Just loving the 1DX MKII's, it really is capturing far more than the MK1, especially the finer detail.