Preening Red-naped Ibis (Pseudibis papillosa) male & female

[Jonathan Ashton]

Taken from a boat on the Chambal River, hand held. I had to rearrange the canvas a little to get the birds a little more centred.
Olympus : E-M1X
OLYMPUS M.300mm F4.0
Lens focal length : 300 mm
Focal length in 35 mm film : 601.0mm
Metering mode : Pattern
Shutter speed : 1/1600 sec
Aperture : F5.6
Exposure mode : Manual exposure
ISO : 640
Exposure bias : +1.7 EV
Flash : OFF

ACR + PSCC, I double processed the raw file and layered the exposures then masked because the sand was so bright with the increased exposure.

[Dorian Anderson]

Appropriately named bird! Great look at the bird on the right, but a lack of eye contact make connection difficult. I also wish the other was either in better focus or father away on more blurred. Both do really crack on the sand though.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Appropriately named bird! Great look at the bird on the right, but a lack of eye contact make connection difficult. I also wish the other was either in better focus or father away on more blurred. Both do really crack on the sand though.

I see what you say Dorian but a bird engaged in preening acting naturally would not naturally be looking at me, the intent was to capture natural behaviour as opposed to a portrait.

[John Mack]

Neat looking ibises. The pose on both birds is nice. Wish the left bird was more in focus. But thats the way she goes. Cool you caught the male and female together.

[Alex Becker]

A very nice natural history image. Like the preening and raised foot on the right. EXP and colors look nice. Some nice images from India -- would love to photograph there but not sure I'd survive the heat. TFS

[Jonathan Ashton]

A very nice natural history image. Like the preening and raised foot on the right. EXP and colors look nice. Some nice images from India -- would love to photograph there but not sure I'd survive the heat. TFS

Alex we went in November so heat was not a problem. The big problem was air pollution and mist.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Jon, brilliant IQ here. I like the light which shows up the iridescence on both of their wings. Always good to capture some sort of behaviour. I presume the male is on the RHS.