Lilac-breasted Roller

[Bill Dix]

This one looks like he was up all night, but he's still a handsome bird. Slight crop for comp; adjusted highlights and shadows on the perch. NR and USM. Shot from vehicle, near Duma Tau, Botswana in February.

D500, Sigma 150-600C @ 600mm; ISO 800, 1/2500 s @ f/7.1 manual.

[John Whaley]

A beautiful image Bill. A great perch and complimentary background. Gorgeous colors and fine feather detail on the L-B Roller.

[Geoffrey Montagu]

I can't stop laughing at your description. It's perfect. He is a beauty nonetheless. Very nice BG also.

Geoffrey




http://500px.com/geoffreymontagu

[Walker Noe]

Maybe it's because he is a handsome bird he was up all night! Very good image, I love these little characters. You did well here. BG, comp, light, and detail all fine.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Bill quite a nice shot of this colourful bird, if it was possible to have moved a bit right you could have got more of the feet in perhaps?

Overall it looks a bit cool, tweaking the WB gives it far more of a 'pop' and more vibrance overall, without going all 'Walt Disney'. Backing off on some Contrast will help the sooty looking background, but also I think in adjusting the Blue for the subject you have then introduced some Blue/Cyan into the shadows of the right part of the perch too, but an easy fix.

TFS
Steve

[John Mack]

Nice pose,nice perch,nice background. Well done.

[Noel Heustis]

Bill - ditto all the compliments above. Absolutely beautiful bird, nice little pose, nice perch, and the soft green bg really makes the bird pop.

[Bill Dix]

Thank you all. This is pretty much 'as shot', except for a modest crop and toning down some highlights on the perch. I may have also opened up the shadows on the perch a bit. Shot using Auto WB. I don't recall using any saturation, or otherwise 'adjusting the blue for the subject'. I didn't do anything by NR to the BG as I recall, but I agree some reduction in contrast might reduce the blotchiness.