Little Lorikeet in hollow

[Paul Randall]

Don't see to many parrots posted here so I thought I'd post one I shot yesterday. These small Lorikeets are fairly rare in the southern states of Australia so I was delighted to find a nesting pair at my local patch. The light was dappled over the bird and hollow most of the time so I tried using fill flash but the iridescent sheen of the birds green back was showing up to bright and giving an over flashed look. Finally ditched the flash and worked with the natural light, adjusting shadow/highlights in post. Does it look a little washed out? Let me know what you think;)

All comments, reposts, critiques welcome:D Paul

Canon 5D 600mm f4 L (non IS) +1.4 TC iso 400 1/800th f8.0 CW metering +2/3 tripod mounted

[Chantelle Voss]

Cool shot! How I miss lorikeets! The background looks a bit washed out, but I wonder if cropping the photo may help?

[John Guastella]

Beautiful bird, well-captured, Paul. Sharpness is fine, but the image does look washed-out on my monitor. I've recently discovered the magic of local contrast enhancement (using the USM filter) for some of my photos, and I think it would greatly improve this image.

John

[Pieter de Waal]

I like the pose well captured and sharp. Lovely light on the bird. Colours look a little light to me but I don't know the bird. Have you tried using Selective colour and adjusting the Blacks and Neutrals. I find I sometimes have to do this after using shadows/highlights. Not much adjustment needed IMHO.

[Arthur Morris]

Loverly bird and pose and very sharp. I am glad to see the several "washed out look" comments above as I was about to go back and clean my glasses again :) Just pull down the curve in the middle and you will be well on the way.

[Paul Randall]

Thanks for the views and comments, pulled the curve down slightly and added +10 contrast, how does that look?:)

[John Guastella]

The repost looks better to me, Paul. Might even pull the middle of the curve down a bit more, perhaps until the bill is black.

John

[Arthur Morris]

The bird looks great. Next I would try toning down the whites that are quite bright in some places.