April theme: close-up - Ring-necked pheasant

[Desmond Chan]

105f2.8 Nikkor Micro on D700 hand-held. Manual exposure mode. ISO 400 f8 1/320s. Subject distance 0.8m (2.62ft). Cropped to get rid of empty space.

Took this about a year ago. He was one aggressive pheasant. Anywhere within 100m he deemed his area. He would chase you until you were out of his area. If you chose to stay, he would attack you if you turned your back on it (as some photographers found out). As I knew it would come to me anyway, I picked a spot 20, 30 ft away, went down on one of my knees, camera in my hands with the pheasant in the viewfinder and waited. No, he didn't attack me. He stopped a couple of feet away from me and did nothing. He even started foraging on the ground around me. At one point, he was walking side by side with me, like I was walking my do.

Thank you for looking !

[Brendan Dozier]

Amazing detail, texture, and wonderful rich colors. Very nicely done, Desmond!

[Tom Rambaut]

What about going right in? I like the eye, red feathers and those fine feathers that come out to the right. I would play around in that area. TFS

[Dumay de Boulle]

Fantastic IQ and very nice handling of the red...How did you manage to post this large...Thought vertical was 800 longest side? Nice too see it so large

[Desmond Chan]

What about going right in?

Hey Tom, not sure what you mean by that. Would you mind elaborating on it a bit?

[Desmond Chan]

How did you manage to post this large...Thought vertical was 800 longest side?

Shhh....I linked it from other site

[Tom Rambaut]

Hey Tom, not sure what you mean by that. Would you mind elaborating on it a bit?

I was thinking about an image that has no background and is just close up on the head area. I realy like the details in the head and if the IQ allows I thought that if it was my image I would try something abstract.

[Ken Canning]

Macro-lens bird photography - love it! Really like the colors and the texture in the beak