Purple Gallinule

[Katie Rupp]

This is such a pretty species and it was always moving and mostly in the grasses so I didn't get the shot I wanted: this one will have to do for now. I like the direct look, the feather detail and I hope I got the color right. It's cropped and I removed some sticks from the background. C&C encouraged and greatly appreciated.

Canon 40D; f5.6, 1/500; manual mode; ISO 800; 100-400 @400

[Lance Peters]

Hi Katie - they are beautiful and often overlooked - have em by the hundreds were I live and have never taken a single shot :(
Dont know how big of a crop this is - but I would consider evicting the OOF stick on the LHS - The beak tends to merge a bit with the BG - a bit of a contrast boost might help here.
Like the eye contact and the realistic colours.
Keep em coming :)

[wendell westfall]

Beautiful, and sharp, bird, Katie. I like it. I'd agree with Lance re. contrast boost on the beak.

[Katie Rupp]

Thanks, Lance. It's a pretty big crop so I really had to leave the stick/branch in and I think it looks a bit like the bird is peeking out at me. I agree the beak needs more contrast.

Thank you for all your helpful advice and encouragement.

[Craig Markham]

Beautiful color capture , Katie. You had good focus on the eye, but since bill projects slightly forward of the sharp focal range, I agree that a little selective increase of contrast on the bill/BG area would improve apparent sharpness and further differentiate bill from BG. I would like the "peek-a-boo" effect created by the foreground branch, were it closer to your focal plane. However, OOF foreground elements are often visually distracting, as is the case here.

To illustrate my thoughts on this, I took the liberty of trying a crop to eliminate the branch. To reduce the amount of cropping on the bird, I cloned out a bit of the branch where it crossed the top of the bird's back and the sky. While I was at it, I used Viveza 1.0 with CS4 for the following: 1) On the sky in the URC behind the head and bill I selectively reduced brightness 40%, Increased contrast 21% and reduced saturation 37%. 2) On the yellow bill tip, I reduced brightness 37%, increased contrast 88%, and increased saturation a mere 2%.

I think your creation makes a really nice portrait!

[Alfred Forns]

Fine looking bird Katie They are not easy to find in the open, you did well. Exposure could be slightly over? Got a keeper.

Excellent critique and re-post Craig !!! PS work is excellent and love the way the beak turned out, mighty fine work !!!!

[Gus Cobos]

Hi Katie,
This is one beautiful bird indeed, love those colors, agree with the techs. and sound advise given...the repost looks good...keep them coming...:cool:

[Oscar Zangroniz]

I have never been able to get a shot that I like on a Purple. You did very well Katie. Excellent HA and eye contact.

[Kerry Perkins]

Very nice Katie! Can't add much to the tech comments, just wanted to say that this is a lovely bird and thanks for sharing.

[Katie Rupp]

Thank you all! And thank you Craig, for taking the time to work on it and include the detailed explanation. I'm amazed that it turned out so well...it is a very big crop. I'll go back and see what I can do. Glad you liked it; I almost tossed it.