Teenager

[Glenn Pure]

This was the result of a funny encounter. Driving along a country road, we spotted a group of emus including some immature birds near a farm dam. I stopped and went up to the fence for a shot. This young emu was very curious but also worried that I might be a threat. For a minute or two, the bird gingerly moved towards me for a closer look then trotted back, then moved forward again, then back... unable to make up its mind. I got my shots and left, solving its dilemma. I liked the 'just got out of bed hair' look. It's wrong to stereotype but it was a teenager. Taken south of Jindabyne in the New South Wales alpine region.

Thank you for looking and any comments you may wish to share.

Technical: Canon 80D with EF 100-400 (MkI) at 400mm handheld. Aperture priority exposure 1/1250 sec, f8, ISO 1600. Processed in Canon DPP 4 (digital lens optimiser, crop, lighting adjustments, default NR) then exported 16 bit TIFF to Photoshop Elements with Neat Image NR plugin. Very light NR applied to bird and stronger NR to background. Lighten shadows on image overall. No other fiddles. Sharpened after size reduction (bird only).

[Joseph Przybyla]

Hi Glenn, wonderful image of an unusual bird. Nice complimentary colors on the bird and background, sharp feather detail. If mine I would try to eliminate the membrane covering the top part of the eye, not sure if possible. Thank you for sharing.

[Alex Becker]

I like the HA, eye, pose, hairdo and the really nice clean BG. Agree with Joseph re: trying to eliminate the line on the eye but that may not be possible. I think I would prefer a crop with a bit less room on top and more to the right but just personal preference. TFS

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Glenn, cracking detail with a killer backdrop. Just watch you don't go to bright/light on the whiter/highlight parts. Adding some Curves adjustments to darken the bill brings back more 'form' to the bill, 'Burning' the eye will get more depth/richness back too IMHO.

Lovely portrait.

TFS
Steve

[Geoffrey Montagu]

What a fine looking creature this is, Glenn, but you already know this. Love the story and your description of the hairdo. Speaking of which, it looks, on my monitor, a bit over sharpened on the head on either side of the matted down hair. Lovely BG too.

Geoffrey




http://500px.com/geoffreymontagu

[Glenn Pure]

Thanks for the comments to Joe, Alex, Steve and Geoffrey. Also thanks Joe and Steve for your private messages on this - I really appreciate it.

As for the specific issues raised, I think I have work to do more generally in the lighting area. I seem to be not up to speed in that area. Please be patient with me on that. I had looked at the final result and wondered about bringing some more tone into the bill but I wasn't missing any detail either. And the mud tends to dry looking quite light and high key as it does in this shot. So I left it as is. As for the tone of the eye, I actually preferred it looking this way than with darker. I'll revisit this though and see what I can come up with. May repost if I think I have a better result.

As for the line across the eye, I have a series of shots from a burst. All have this line so it is not the bird's nictitating membrane. Rather, it is the reflection of a line of clouds on the horizon I think.

In terms of amount of sharpening, I have been quite conservative (and usually am - sometimes critiqued for not applying enough). In this case, I have done minimal sharpening and only using the 'Sharpness' function not USM. The Sharpness tool tends to produce more subtle sharpening with fewer artefacts versus USM, which is why I like it. So in this case, the over-sharpened look is an accurate reflection of how the bird looked, but perhaps I could tone the contrast down there a little to reduce any distraction this might cause.

[arash_hazeghi]

Nice head shot Glenn, sharpness/details look great and I like the BG but the harsh light was difficult to work with. TFS

[William Dickson]

Great looking frame Glen. Amazing detail with a fantastic looking BG. I reckon you nailed it here. Great work.

Will