Work has unfortunately kept me away from contributing to the forum for a couple of months but a recent trip to Australia was great as always- Australian forum members were a big help with advice - a trip report is on my website summarising my experience and advice given. This is the first of a few images I will post and as always tips and advice are much appreciated.
Nikon D300
Nikon 200-400 f4.0 @330
1/60s f4
flash -1.3
monopod
I like the pose and eye contact and find the leaf crossing the tail a bit distracting. You could have used a higher ISO for higher shutter speed and/or wider DOF. Thanks for sharing!
Great composition Tony! Sharp eye and nice BG too. I agree with Axel about both the tail feathers and the need for more DOF and shutter speed. Thanks for posting, and it's good to see you back here!
Love the pose, the perffect head angle, and the great EXP in a difficult situation. I am fine with the leaves over the tail wishing only for a bit more d-o-f for the flower... All in all, way well done.
BIRDS AS ART Blog: great info and lessons, lots of images with our legendary BAA educational Captions; we will not sell you junk. 30+ years of long lens experience/e-mail with gear questions.
BIRDS AS ART Online Store: we will not sell you junk. 35 years of long lens experience. Please e-mail with gear questions.
Check out the new SONY e-Guide and videos that I did with Patrick Sparkman here. Ten percent discount for BPN members,
ps: Hey Tony, Just spent 20 minutes at your web site; fantastic stuff. Read the Aussie trip report with great interest and checked out most of the birds. My fave was the gull with the chick. Please do post that here. Thanks also for the link to BPN in the trip report.
BIRDS AS ART Blog: great info and lessons, lots of images with our legendary BAA educational Captions; we will not sell you junk. 30+ years of long lens experience/e-mail with gear questions.
BIRDS AS ART Online Store: we will not sell you junk. 35 years of long lens experience. Please e-mail with gear questions.
Check out the new SONY e-Guide and videos that I did with Patrick Sparkman here. Ten percent discount for BPN members,
Another new bird for me. Love to see all the beautiful birds from different countries. The pose and perch are great. look forward to seeing your others.
Hi Tony,
You have got an excellent subject here with complimenting background. It would have been nice to see the flowers in focus as well. Probably burning down the flowers a bit may have been nice. Also I see a blue cast in the beak, head and the legs. Not sure if it's only me.
Thanks for the comments and feedback. Artie, I appreciate your comments re my website - the link is a pleasure. The gull and chick photo was taken a few years ago at Phillip Island near Melbourne. There is a lovely succulent "lawn" with flowers which makes a really nice location for a breeding colony amongst which some Little penguin burrows are too. As I recall it was taken with a D70 and old 80-200 2.8D + Tamron 1.4x. I will dig out the raw file and post with with details from the EXIF.
Sudhir - you are right about the blue cast - this was in small opening in the rainforest so had a disk of bright blue sky above (you can see in the eye reflection the dark surrounds with the small area of blue sky - my fill flash is the bright speck near the bottom). I had processed a version to eliminate the blue but it seemed to make everything else too yellow - I should do one of each and combine the layers with some masking
Overall you did well to capture this at that shutter speed. The weight of the bird and those huge flowers just don't keep still!
Agree about the tail, I would remove the leaf or the very tail tip