Bush Stone Curlew portrait

[Gerhard Weldhagen]

The Bush Stone Curlew is an interesting bird found mostly in dry scrub and uninhabited areas of Australia. Beautiful Kangaroo Island is no exception with the eerie whistling calls of these birds widely heard at night and early morning. This one was out in the open, I took the opportunity for a portrait shot with distant dry grass and scrub as background. Canon 7dII, EF 300 IS II + 2xTCIII, ISO 800, 1/2500, f 6.3, handheld. Processed with PS CC, NIK Dfine, cropped for composition.

Comments appreciated.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Pretty neat looking eye! I'm OK with the tight crop to show the details and speckling in that eye. I would have preferred a light angle coming directly from behind your head to light up the shadows.

[David Seymour]

Hi Gerhard, a great portrait and made even more so by that incredible eye which really lifts the image into something extraordinary. The dry grass background tones also really suit the bird.

Cheers, David