A Large-tailed Nightjar well-camouflaged in a bed of leaves. Keoladeo N.P., Bharatpur, India, Feb. After much thought I decided to crop it this way, even though there are a lot of out of focus leaves at top right. Perhaps a larger f stop might have been better, but it was in heavy shade, and I didn 't want to use too slow a shutter speed. I was squatting, with the lens resting on my knees. Kudos to our guide, for finding the bird!
The camouflage IS the story in this one, Richard! It's hard to tell the subject from the BG - a good thing for the subject. Amazing you found it. Good detail and eye contact, especially considering the slow shutter speed and hand held shot. How long is this bird? Congrats!
What a fascinating find, Richard. I'm pretty sure you have a bit of a color cast going on here. When I first opened it I felt like there was too much of a green tint but now I'm wondering if it isn't more of a cyan. You can really see it on the breast of the bird - right down the middle of the feathers where they crease together.
I'm not an expert on bird images but I think a slight head turn to the right (or you stepping a bit to the left) would have given you a stronger angle. The way it is presented I feel the beak is getting lost in the face.
Those two things aside, you have great clarity on the eyes and the camouflage is outstanding here! You definitely had a good guide that day. ;)
I think this is one terrific capture. I spent lots of time looking at it. The full face doesn't bother me. If it were mine, I might crop just a bit off the right, and run High Pass sharpening on the whole image - it seems to heighten the camouflage effect.
Big congrats!!!
Cheers
Gail
Last edited by Gail Spitler; 03-22-2010 at 10:28 PM.
Camouflage
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