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Thread: Fiery-Billed Aracari from Costa Rica

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    Lifetime Member Doug Brown's Avatar
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    Default Fiery-Billed Aracari from Costa Rica

    Probably my favorite image for my recent Costa Rica tour. The trip was a blast! Two weeks of paradise, with a great group of people, a nice variety of birds, excellent food, and some incredible scenery. The story behind this photo goes as follows. We were driving from one lodge to another and stopped for lunch at a little restaurant along the way. We knew that Aracaris lived in that general vicinity, but when we got off the bus, there were no birds to speak of. After enjoying a nice traditional Costa Rican meal, we grabbed our cameras and set out to find some birds. It wasn't long before this beautiful Fiery-Billed Aracari made its grand entrance. He moved around quite a bit and most of the perches he selected were fairly busy. That is until he landed on this one for a couple of seconds. I love the way the sun was illuminating his head in this image.

    I am thinking of entering this photo in some international competitions that don't allow much in the way of post-processing. I'm curious about whether the BG is a distraction to forum members? To me this photo captures typical Costa Rican habitat and I'm not at all bothered by the high-key BG elements. Thanks for the feedback!



    Canon 1D Mark III, 500mm + 1.4x, f/5.6, 1/4000, ISO 640, -1/3 EC, fill flash, monopod
    Last edited by Doug Brown; 04-29-2009 at 12:21 PM.
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    Avian Moderator Randy Stout's Avatar
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    Doug:

    A wonderful picture, great technicals and feel to it.

    I don't know the specific rules you will be competing under. I took the liberty of a tiny tweak in the background, to reduce the brightness a bit. This may overstep the boundaries, I don't know, but thought I would take a quick stab at it.

    Again, the feeling/ sense of place of the original is great.

    Randy

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    Nice image of a tricky exposure situation (black bird, white background/sky, that was mostly in shade). In the real world, it's very difficult to find birds perched in a rainforest tree that don't have a variegated background, sometimes bright, unless there's a clear blue sky. Even then, I find it difficult. If allowed by the competition, I'd lighten the bird a bit, and maybe, although this is subjective, add a bit of canvas to the upper right (the direction the long bill is headed into). BTW, I recently spent nearly 2 weeks in CR (including a day with Greg Basco), and could not find an aracari in any of the 3 areas I visited!

  4. #4
    David Ornstein
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    Doug -

    It's a beautiful image. I don't find the BG at all distracting. I agree it's evocative of habitat. I'm a neophyte avian photographer, but I do have a good aesthetic sense.

    At the posted settings you had very shallow DOF. On what part of the bird did you lock the focus?

    David

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    Lifetime Member Doug Brown's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by David Ornstein View Post
    At the posted settings you had very shallow DOF. On what part of the bird did you lock the focus?
    I don't remember precisely, but I typically focus on the eye and recompose. Due to this bird's pose, I didn't need much DOF to get the whole bird in focus.
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    Lifetime Member Stu Bowie's Avatar
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    I think your BG has actually worked in your favour, as the subject is dark, thus standing out. Lovely colours and detail captured on him, and you have created the perfect comp.

  7. #7
    Gary Dumer
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    I think you have a Really Good looking Image and the BG doesn't Lose the Subject, I would Lighten and Brighten the Bird and Give it a go!!!!

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    Doug, it looks great, and I think it has competition potential. That said, I would go for a much looser crop. In fact, I liked the full-frame quite a bit when you captured it. And the background for me is just fine as it does indeed evoke this beautiful bird's rainforest habitat.

    Cheers,
    Greg

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    Doug this image looks great.

    I agree with Greg about a more loose crop. The BG does not bother me, actually, is very good.
    I only with for a bit more of light on perch and bird's underparts.

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    BKGR is fine. Needs a bit more room on top, and Randy's brightening of the bird is a step in the right direction, IOW, ditto Gary.
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    Lifetime Member Doug Brown's Avatar
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    I had to crop it the way I did because of a tree trunk that comes into play above the bird's bill running parallel to the perch. I'll post a looser crop later today.
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    Ah! our old friend the Aracari. Nice capture of a great moment on a great trip! I don't have an oppinion on its chances in any competition. I know what the situation was and this is a job well done! (you could have moved west about forty feet:D).

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    Great species and detail, colors and BG looks great, IMO a higher angle would''ve been better, were you able to take a few steps back? Congratulations!

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    doug-
    great pic of a stunning bird for all the reasons mentioned aboved
    you did very well with the BG and controlling the highlights often encountered in rainforests

    A technical question: i suspect you were using a BetterBeamer. Focus is centred on the bird's eye . Upper half is brighter - how much was the sun versus fill flash? Why did fill flash not reach the tail?

    Again a great pic - thanks for sharing
    PH
    Last edited by Peter Hawrylyshyn; 04-29-2009 at 07:08 PM.

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    Lifetime Member Doug Brown's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Peter Hawrylyshyn View Post
    A technical question: i suspect you were using a BetterBeamer. Focus is centred on the bird's eye . Upper half is brighter - how much was the sun versus fill flash? Why did fill flash not reach the tail?
    Hi Peter. I don't recall exactly how much fill I used, but it was probably about -1 1/3 FEC. I was using a Beamer at the time. The flash did help illuminate the tail feathers but the ray of sunlight is what really illuminated the head so well.

    Rainforest bird photography is extremely challenging from an exposure standpoint. There is a delicate balance that has to be struck between adequate lighting of your subject and fill flash. I rely on flash more in the rainforest than anywhere else because of the general lack of ambient light. However it's very easy to make a bird look overflashed. I strive for a more natural look. One of the main areas of emphasis on my Costa Rica workshops is exposure and flash.
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    Thanks for all the input so far! Here's the complete image.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Peter Hawrylyshyn View Post
    A technical question: i suspect you were using a BetterBeamer. Focus is centred on the bird's eye . Upper half is brighter - how much was the sun versus fill flash? Why did fill flash not reach the tail?
    Peter, flash coverage with the Better Beamer is about 300mm. With the rig he was using he would really have had the flash terribly mis-aligned for the flash to miss by so far.

    Looking back at the original post I am confused Doug by the -1/3 with the soft light and the light sky... mI'd have been thinking at least +1 in that situation.
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    Lifetime Member Doug Brown's Avatar
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    Artie, I was underexposing the BG just a little and using fill flash to compensate on the subject. +1 would have given me a very different look. I wanted a moody and somewhat dark image.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Doug Brown View Post
    Artie, I was underexposing the BG just a little and using fill flash to compensate on the subject. +1 would have given me a very different look. I wanted a moody and somewhat dark image.
    The histogram rules. It would seem very likely that the histogram for the original would show no data in the fifth box while there should be data almost up to the highlight axis. Had you used much more flash or a good deal of plus compensation, that would have yielded and exposure to the right. Then, with the maximum amount of color information you can create the moody look that wanted after the fact. My guess is that the latter approach would have been the better one as you would have avoided the flashed look on the bird.
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