Birds of Panama - Resplendant Quetzal (IN HABITAT)

[Richard Unsworth]

Captured at Los Quetzales Lodge, Guadolupe, Western Panama where the trail enters La Amistad NP. Had one foot on either side of a deep crevass:eek: and in 4 inches of mud!
You get a few seconds to react after hours of walking and waiting - fantastic birds to see!

ISO 1250, 1/125, balancing on one tripod leg lol, F 8 eV +.33
Canon 40D 100-400+ 1.4 TC 11
NR by Topaz 5 , other PP in PS5





Critique always welcome

[Randy Stout]

Richard.

Nice colors in the bird, interesting perch.

Lighting conditions obviously very challenging,with a lot of noise in the darker areas of the BG.

The bird being in shade with the bright highlights in the background is a challenge also.

Wish the tail wasn't clipped, but these long tailed birds are always a challenge to frame. A vertical would have been a good choice to try and get the entire tail.

Glad you didn't fall in!

Randy

[Joe Senzatimore]

Tough conditions to shoot under. Very harsh light and bright spots in the Bg hurt this image. But such a beautiful subject is hard to pass up under any conditions , so I'm glad you shared this one.

[annmpacheco]

A big congrats on spotting this bird. It is indeed breathtaking, especially after the jungle trek. I appreciate how difficult it is too shoot with such shade and with the equipment you are using. I used the same lens w/o TC or tripod and managed to get a "few" worthy ones as I toss hundreds. Just returned from Panama this week, lots of birds and lots of photography challenges. Thanks for sharing. Ann

[James Shadle]

Were you close enough to use flash?
In cases like this I would underexpose the ambient light, resulting in a darker background and then bring the subject backup with flash.

What a gorgeous bird!

[Sudhir Shivaram]

Richard, The bird looks very beautiful. I believe the effort you put in to reach this bird was worth it. From a photography perspective, yes, there could have been some improvements. You could have tried including the complete tail and a vertical composition may have worked.

Thanks again for showing the beauty of nature. It's amazing.

Rgds,
Sudhir

[Richard Unsworth]

A big congrats on spotting this bird. It is indeed breathtaking, especially after the jungle trek. I appreciate how difficult it is too shoot with such shade and with the equipment you are using. I used the same lens w/o TC or tripod and managed to get a "few" worthy ones as I toss hundreds. Just returned from Panama this week, lots of birds and lots of photography challenges. Thanks for sharing. Ann

Hmm, hi, were you at Cielito Sur perhaps? If so we met
Rich

[Richard Unsworth]

Thanks for the tips/comments everyone!

Was a great day, one day I will see them again!