I always like to go for something different in bird photos whenever possible. I have some blue-crowned motmots that come to the feeders at my house, and the other day there was some nice light in the afternoon. I went and worked quickly for 45 minutes (I had a soccer game I couldn't miss!) and was rewarded right away with a couple of nice perched shots on a branch I set up. But then I noticed that there was a motmot perched on the electric wires over the road to the left of the feeder so I set up for a flash blur shot at the moment he took off to come down to feed. I got just one shot at it, and I think I made the most of it.
I'm really happy with the composition I got in-camera (this is full-frame), with the mix of sharpness and blur, and with the overall feel of the image which I think is really nice for a bird shooting through the cloud forest. What I'm not happy about is the fact that it took some cloning, but it was a shot I liked enough that I decided to work with it. But the trace of the wire was surprisingly hard to clone, so I ended up outsourcing my clone work to my good buddy Doug Brown (it's a new world when Costa Rica photographers outsource their post-processing to doctors in the US!). Doug did a great job with it and sent me back a clean master file. I'll post the original below in the interest of full disclosure and also so you can admire Doug's handy work. You'll see that there is also work done on a bright spot above right; Doug did some of that, and then I tweaked it a bit too.
Here's the image. I'm interested in what everyone thinks. Unfortunately it won't be a contest entry candidate but I think it will make a nice print and a nice image for a book on which I'm working.
Tech: Canon 5D, Canon 300 mm f2.8, 1.4x, ISO 50, f5, 1/30, 550 EX (in second curtain sync) with Better Beamer, tripod, manually prefocused (I guessed and got lucky)
This is a stunning stunning shot Greg...dramatic, compositionally very strong, creative and colors take it over the top. Wonderful definition in the wings and good to see the eye. Doug's work is also exemplary. TFS.
Just love this shot Greg! Hoping to get something like this when I join you a week from Saturday! It looks fairly straightforward, but the power line was surprisingly difficult to clone out. Thanks for sharing the before and after versions.
I think this is absolutely stunning! The motion is fantastic and the use of rear curtain sync made this image sing. The color palette is incredible. I could easily see this printed large and hanging in any fancy art gallery. This is bird photography taken to an all new level. :) I know you an absolute purist and prefer to not do cloning but I'm sure glad you didn't toss this one because it required some post processing work.
Kaustubh, I'm glad you liked the image, and I really appreciate your kind words.
Doug, thanks for the good words. I wasn't sure if you would be into this image as it's more of a capturing the essence of a bird shot rather than the details of the bird (which you do so well). And thanks of course for the PP work too.
Stuart, glad you liked it and, yes, it is very cool to have these guys around. They remind me a lot of your bee-eaters to whom they are distantly related.
Keith, this kind of praise coming from you is a really a great compliment for me. Thanks so much for that. Well, you know I'm a purist in the sense that it's a point of pride to try to get what I want in-camera. I was mad when I saw the image on the computer and noticed the wire. I wished I had waited just a split-second longer. But I actually tripped the shutter only once so I got lucky enough to get this, and I think it was worth the post-processing work.
A real beauty Greg! I have been after the Blue-crowned Motmot for years but never got the chance. Will be down there in three weeks maybe my luck will change.
This is stunning! Could you say a little more about the camera and flash settings? Was the exposure manual, TV, AV? Was the flash manual or ETTL? If manual flash, what power? If ETTL, was there any flash comp?
Hi, Jim, Bhushan, and Alan. Thanks very much for your kind comments. Alan, I was working in AV, and used 0 exposure compensation because I wanted some detail out into the last right portion of the histogram. I knew I would bring things down a bit in post though but decided to go for more tonal info in the original capture. My main concern was that I wanted a shutter speed of around 1/30 as I thought this would give me the right mix of sharpness and blur for what I wanted. So, stopping down to f5 (I was shooting wide open earlier for the perched shots) and then dropping the ISO to 50 did the trick.
For the flash, it was E-TTL, and I'm pretty sure it was around -2 or maybe just slightly higher.
I risked a practice swing to check exposure and the angle and pan speed and then right after that he took off, and I got my real shot.