Fairy pitta, Dongzhai Preserve, Henan, China

[Craig Brelsford]

I searched and waited for nine hours over three days to achieve this shot of a fairy pitta.

Camera, lens: Nikon D300, AF-S Nikkor 600mm f/4G ED VR
Exposure: 1 second, f8, ISO 250
Exposure mode: aperture priority
Exposure compensation: -0.3EV
Flash: none
Shutter mode: mirror-up
Tripod: yes
Editing: slightly cropped, sharpened

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Welcome to BPN, Craig! Very nice first post and well worth the time it took, it is a beautiful bird. I like the soft light, sharpness and head angle. I would put the bird a bit further to the left so he looks into the frame and would toned down the turquoise plumage on the wing a bit. Keep them coming and please also take the time to comment on some images.

[Harshad Barve]

Big welcome to BPN and excellent suggations by Axel here, BTW this is quite close to Indian Pitta and we have plenty of them in woods
TFS

[Craig Brelsford]

Thanks, Axel and Harshad! Some background to the shot: I was alone, standing up, and not moving. At 0548 two pittas appeared on the ground. One of them perched atop a rock for three minutes, so close to me that I had to turn the camera from the horizontal to the vertical position. (Moving the bird left in my shot would therefore be difficult.) The pittas perched on rocks and branches very close to me for nine minutes.

[Stu Bowie]

Welcome to BPN Craig, and enjoy the ride. Colourful little guy, and I agree with Axel to move him back to the left a tad. Adding to that, I would maybe try and lighten the eye. Keep them coming.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Welcome to BPN Craig...this is an awesomwe looking bird you present us as a first post!! I agree with the comments above. Quite sharp for a 1 second exposure - I guess these guys can be rather motionless at times, or at least enough to have given you this chance:). You can move your bird left in PP by some additional cropping...looks like the image can handle it. What caused the color near the head?

[Craig Brelsford]

Hi Daniel, I liked your phoebe from the other day. You're right; the pitta at times was standing uncommonly still. I therefore said, "He's doing his part for image stabilization. Now you do yours." I tightened the dials of my tripod head and put the shutter cord in my hand. When the reading said the shutter speed was going to be 1 second, I didn't flinch; I knew my equipment could achieve clear shots. I probably could have run the ISO to 400 or even a bit higher, but the degradation would have been noticeable to a perfectionist like me. The color near the pitta's head is probably an odd leaf; it's not trash. My field of view was free of garbage.