Lovers' Quarrel

[Doug Brown]

I took this photo of a pair of Passerini's Tanagers in Costa Rica on my most recent photo tour. I love the interaction! It looks like a lovers' quarrel. I stopped down because the BG was relatively distant and I wanted to get the birds in focus. I know the reds are on the bleeding edge, but in the sunlight, the males look like that.



Canon 1D Mark III, 700mm, f/13, 1/200, ISO 400, -2/3 EC, no flash, tripod

[Sudhir Shivaram]

Like the colours and the action captured here. Looks like the male is trying to make a point and getting some stiff resistance from the female :) Lovely image.

[Grace Scalzo]

Really cool interaction image and good thinking regarding your settings....result is a beautiful photo.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Thanks for explaining the red on the male as I would have suggested to desat them a bit :-) I wonder if some flash would have helped with some of the darker blacks (such as in the face).

The only thing I would do is eliminate the OOF leaf touching the female's neck. Very cool interaction, I love the female's backing away pose.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Great interaction, details and beautiful birds. In Safari the reds look good, I may desaturate the reds a few points anyway.

[Beth Goffe]

The interaction and the colors of the birds are so great. Somehow, the female's expression reminds me of poor Charlie Brown getting yelled at by Lucy. :D

[Pramod Viswanath]

Lovers' quarrel it is! Amazingly conveyed message. Just love everything about this image.

[Vincent Grafhorst]

Precious image Doug! Fantastic behavioural capture. Great exposure control, but I agree with Axel to desaturate the reds on the male's back a bit.

[Manos Papadomanolakis]

Great action,colors and poses!!!

[Arthur Morris]

Wonderful image, sharpness, COMP, and title. In IE the reds look horrific, and when I saved and opened the image all of the reds plus the bird's bills were coming up over-exposed. Try reconverting a bit darker (for the bills) and then reducing RED SAT and making the RED SAT darker with the lightness slider...

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Hey Doug!
You certainly did a great job with rump of this fellow! those are some of the hardest reds I have encountered to photograph, but as I mentioned you did very good. I like the interaction of these guys, probably they are discussing about food!

[Jasper Doest]

Excellent interaction captured....besides the red-saturation issue I really like this photograph. Photography in Costa Rica ain't easy....and you did a wonderful job!

[Doug Brown]

Thank you all for your input! I was on a fence about what to do with the reds. Here's a repost with a little desaturation and the lightness turned down a bit. What do you think now?

[Arthur Morris]

Much better on the reds but I forgot to mention another negative that everyone has overlooked: the harsh rim light on the back of the male...

[Doug Brown]

Much better on the reds but I forgot to mention another negative that everyone has overlooked: the harsh rim light on the back of the male...

I hadn't overlooked it. I'm just not sure what's causing it. I had the sun behind be and it was fairly early in the morning. Also, you can see it on both sides of each bird's breast. I thought it might be part of the feather color.

[Arthur Morris]

Weird. I meant that nobody had mentioned it not that you had overlooked it.

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

These are hard reds-to-get Doug, but you did it fine.