These birds are fairly common in New Zealand but a real bugger to get a good image of. If the light is too bright, the feathers look shiny and awful. If there is no sun, then the iridescence is hard to see.
I finally got a good image early one morning about 30 minutes after sunrise on a day with high thin cloud.
The tui ( pronounced "two-eee" ) is perching on the flax seed plant.
I love the 2 white chest feathers. This bird was called the parson's bird because the white feathers reminded settlers of a parsons' collar.
Canon 1DX 600mm v 3and 1.4x v 3
ISO 1000 SS 1/1000 f 6.3
Crop to 80% FF. Nothing added or cloned.
Comments always appreciated and learned from with thanks,
Gail
PS. The lines you see on the tips of primaries is the shadow from the flax bud resting under the wingtips. Not a cloning artifact or PP mistake.
Excellent angle for capturing all the different feathers of this remarkable looking bird, Gail. You managed to capture the iridescence beautifully. Great perch, perfect head turn, and good eye contact.
Now there's a cool bird! I love the grey feathers on the back of the head - like an older man letting his hair grow. Nice perch too. The conditions were just right as you point out. If mine I'd see if I could blend in (or lighten slightly without introducing too much noise) the darker patch just above the head, but all else looks super.
This is beautiful, Gail! I like the perch, the bird's HA and the colors. Personally, I'd prefer a more off-centre comp. with the bird shifted slightly to the right. Considering this is almost FF, maybe you could even experiment with a vertical?
This might be slightly nitpicky, but I'd also like to see the whites on the bird's neck lowered a tad. I wonder if that area's blown (the bird looks very difficult to expose for), but maybe you could extract more detail out of it. As is, my eyes go straight to that white region instead of the otherwise incredibly beautiful bird. It could also be just a difference in monitor calibration. Love this shot, regardless
A beautiful image Gail, composition and colours are very pleasing. I too would vote for a lifting of the darkest plumage, just a little but it makes a significant difference.