Northern Black Korhaan (female)

[Morkel Erasmus]

This image was created recently in the Kalahari - in the amazing Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in South Africa.
The light in that place is magical. Unfortunately in the mornings the sun rises very quickly so you have a small window of this sweet golden light.

After reading Arash's thread on blurring the BG and Artie's method for doing it I decided to give it a go - so please let me have your critiques! I just blurred the second layer with surface blur, 5px, 15 threshold, and painted the bird and the foreground back in.

Techs:
Canon 40D with 100-400mm L IS USM @ 400mm
f5.6 @ 1/400 SS @ ISO-640
Exp +0.3
Aperture Priority, Auto-ISO

[Jim Fenton]

Neat subject with really nice patterns in the plumage. Really like the coral colored hue...is the ground actually that color or was this cast created by the natural lighting conditions?

Background blur looks OK, although personally, I might have blurred it just a hair more, but that's being picky.

The subjects head and the bill appears less sharp than the immediate foreground and perhaps could use a bit more sharpening or perhaps a light contrast sharpen?

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks Jim...

the ground is naturally a more white-ish gravel, but the early morning light in the Kalahari renders this marvellous hue all around.

here is a new version with the head and beak sharpened a little more (didn't want to overdo it)...

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Good light, angle, look-back pose and the sharpness in the repost looks good, too.

[Alexander Koenders]

Il like the bird verry musch and olso the ambiance of light you had on that moment. The repose seems better then the first upload.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

I do like the repost too bro. Very cool look back pose indeed! :) Good job on the BG, but I too, would have done more of a blur. Your edge is not visible so double congrats!

[Michael Zajac]

Nice repost. I like the species and have never seen it before. BG color looks good.

[Arthur Morris]

The look-back HA is the bomb and the BKGR looks great. To my tired eyes the head looks slightly sharped in the original post...

[Gerrie van Vuuren]

Well done on the BG. Like the HA, eye contact & foot-up pose.

[Harshad Barve]

lovely HA , sharpness and BG
TFS

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks for the great comments everyone.
now that I've applied the technique I will try to blur it some more on other shots.

Artie - does 'sharped' mean oversharpened??

[Stu Bowie]

Hey Mork, good HA, and love the raised foot. You were lucky to get him in the open as these guys are very secretive. I like the light, colours and detail, and stands out nicely against the BG. Well captured mate.

[Dave Barnes]

I did not get one of these guys in the open so you were lucky there. Pity you could not get him front on to show more of the black chest, but hey you got him. Nice light but me thinks the head could have been soft on the raw, with the focus point on his back?

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks Stu & Dave.

Dave - probably true...should've stopped down to f8.0 but didn't really want to lose more on ISO :)

[Harshad Barve]

Morkelbhai
Gogled Northern Black Korhaan (female) and searched for images , this image has color cast
I may be wrong here as I have never seen this bird but tried to match colors to images I found in search
I hope you dont mind :D

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks for the effort Harshad Bhai.

having been to the Kalahari - this is what the bird will look like at 12 noon. at the time of taking the picture - 07:03 AM - the rising sun gives a beautiful reddish-golden hue to the entire landscape. I feel I accurately captured this colour with my WB setting on daylight and no changes made in ACR to the WB - as the OP colour resembles the colour I saw with my eyes almost every morning during our trip.

:):D

[Harshad Barve]

My apologies Morkelbhai
will trust you on this

[Daniel Belasco]

I like Harshad's post a little better--the definations on the bird is a little better and the dark bg at the top is a little lighter. The dark bg on the OP was too dark and drew the eye too much in that direction.
I tend to like evening light better than morning light--the color are way different although it doesn't last long either.

[David Fletcher]

I like Harshad's post a little better--the definations on the bird is a little better and the dark bg at the top is a little lighter. The dark bg on the OP was too dark and drew the eye too much in that direction.

Killer HA Morkel. Like what you have done, although I'm like Daniel if feeling Harshad's repost works better, despite meaning the loss of that morning color.