Calao De Manille

[Raymond Barlow]

Subic Rainforest, Philippines
D200 / 200-400 VR
1/125s f/4.5 at 400.0mm iso250
hand held while resting the lens on Romy Ocon's Truck, natural light, 60% of full frame

A very special thanks to my friend Romy for touring me around Subic and the area for 3 days while on my vacation to Philippines last summer to see the in-laws. We had some excellent shooting, and I always learn so much from the Master Romy.

This bird is more comonly known as a Luzon Hornbill, (Penelopides manillae) and is endemic to the Philippines. Probably the most spectacular bird I have ever seen.

The tree was a bit bright, so I used the burn tool to tone it down, and some bright areas on the right were cloned out., levels and sharpening.

thanks for looking!

[Linda Robbins]

It truly is a spectacular-looking bird. Love that bill. I like the framing. pose and perch. Good sharpness for a large crop. Too bad that you didn't have a little fill flash to bring out the color and brighten the bird, but I imagine opportunities to photograph these birds on an open perch (or to photograph them at all ) are few and far between. Would love to see this species!

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Raymond

Great looking bird and do like the setting very much Would try brightening the bird up a little with curves then darkening the edges some to focus attention on the center frame !!! Excellent image Must have been fun going out with Master Romy !!!

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

What a great looking bird Raymond and what a thrill it must have been to have had the opportunity to see and photograph it. Love the environmental setting and the pose and eye contact in this capture. Big congratulations !!!

[Arthur Morris]

Nice bird, nice crop, nice COMP, nice image. To see some sick hornbills, check out National Geographic photographer Tim Laman's hornbill gallery here: http://www.timlaman.com/main.php

[joel quenneville]

A good photo of a rare bird. Great head angle and eye contact.

However, a few adjustments would improve your image. A picture is worth a thousand words:D so I reposted a modified version instead of explaining the crop etc.

Here is what I did:

I croped it vertical to strengthen the composition. Also, I selectively brightened the bird, especially the face and added a little saturation to the beak. All this was done using Adjustement layers and their masks in Photoshop Elements.

Congratulations on a nice image.

[Raymond Barlow]

thanks Joel, my original crop last September was a verticle, but I thought I would try something different for this post., very nicely done., and I really appreciate your effort to help me improve the image.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Joel for the excellent repost and for your membership support.

[Raymond Barlow]

Nice bird, nice crop, nice COMP, nice image. To see some sick hornbills, check out National Geographic photographer Tim Laman's hornbill gallery here: http://www.timlaman.com/main.php

thanks Artie., I just took some time to look through Tims site, very very nice work., I like his use of natural light in difficult conditions., his work is truely excellent.

I can only dream of such an opportunity as his.

[Juan Aragonés]

thanks Artie., I just took some time to look through Tims site, very very nice work., I like his use of natural light in difficult conditions., his work is truely excellent.

I can only dream of such an opportunity as his.

I agree about Tim, one of my favourite photographers. His work on the birds of paradise is amazing. IMO it is the best ever done on this difficult group of birds.

Regarding your image, I prefer a vertical crop and agree about the sugestions on selective sharpenning on the bird. A real beauty!