For Mital Patel

[Ken Watkins]

Mital,

Your post today reminded me that I had this Asian Paradise Flycatcher still to post.

It was taken at Sat Taal 17th April 2011,

We were there for 4 days and saw a few mostly in the bush, this one posed for a few moments and I managed to get a few frames, we were very lucky!

EOS 1D MkIV

500mm F4 IS hand-held, whilst sitting on a cushion

F6.3, ISO 400, 1/2500

[Mital Patel]

Ken ,

You really nailed this one. Actually these guys are pretty co-operative at some locations in india. But here in my state and specially at the Bird Sanctuary near my town i regular go every weekend they are rare to photograph and common to see.

The territory is around 3 sq km and numbers are 15/20 they even breed at my location and if we get lucky to find their nest its pretty easy to photography near nest but the risk factor begins there when we stand with camera at any place people curious to see what it is and start their curious venture to disturb.

Sattal is a very known place for indian birders .. great to see around 200+ species in three four days and half to photograph if get proper person along.

Again Thanks a Stack for posting this for me i really feel rejuvenated being in love with this species apart from my wader love.

[Satish Ranadive]

Extremely beautiful creation....loved the pose and mind-blowing lovely colors ...my most favorite bird...wish to see more...

[Mital Patel]

Extremely beautiful creation....loved the pose and mind-blowing lovely colors ...my most favorite bird...wish to see more...

Satish,
Some of my friends from pune reported to me about this species is really easy compare to my place THOL for photography. You people get more open perches than us ..

Plz post one if you have it on hand.

[Stu Bowie]

Good image design Ken, and just love that pose with the raised tail - was the wing blowing to be in that position? The colours are vivid on the flycatcher, and overall nice and sharp too. Well captured Ken.

[girisholeti]

This is such a lovely photo. This species is very difficult one to get in most parts as it always prefers thickets.

[Dan Busby]

What a fantastic bird Ken. And very nicely photographed here. Are the eye rings really that bright aqua blue colour? Amazing. And do those tail feathers really stick out like that or did they have help from a wind? Anyway, nice BG, comp, and exposure. You made it look easy.

[Robert Holguin]

Oh Wow!!! This is a beautiful shot. Love the colors and the composition is excellent.
Well done.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Gorgeous bird and a great capture of it. Love the colors and bg

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Ken, what a BG to capture this bird against...well done. excellent composition.

This is a juvenile. Adult females have same color but not the tail feathers and Adult males are white( and black head)

Color seems a tad oversaturated....or its perhaps waaaay tooo many years since I've seen one.

Mital, I have spent many childhood mornings enjoying this species in foothills near Pune. Its not easy to capture there as well....unless you happen to find a nest or a favorite watering hole. And very tough to get them against such clean BG.

[yogesh_puranik]

wow..suprisingly i have also posted image of female today :) this is superb in open and fantastic expo..lovely..
@Mital: true. IN pune we have seen these beauties very often the females are very co-operative but male and juv very diffucult..:(
pls check today's post of mine..:)

[Arthur Morris]

Killer bird, pose, and BKGR, especially the BKGR. I am not crazy about the perch but it is what it is. KD was getting to the heart of the problem: the blues of the head are over-saturated to the point of looking like detial-less enamel. A re-do from the start would be in order here as this has many of the elements of a fine image.

[Jeff Dyck]

Wow - what a beautiful bird! Love, love, love that background. Great job.

[Harshad Barve]

I liked it very much Ken ( and you know that )
Excellent image , colors looks realistic to my eyes at-least
TFS

[Ken Watkins]

Firstly thanks to everybody for your comments and suggestions, they are much appreciated.

It is as Kaustubh said a juvenile, we saw one or two adults but unfortunately I got no usable images.

I had never seen this bird before our trip, so find it hard to comment on the accuracy of the colours in particular the blues on the head, which by the way I have toned down lots.

Given the fact that none of the posters from India who probably see this bird a lot more than most have commented on this I presume they are happy with it.

I'll leave the last word to Harshad in the post above, he was there with me

[Mital Patel]

To all & Ken,

To my best the colors rendered perfectly here of the species. The crest and head saturation could go low but the fact is they are pretty shiny and with such light getting such heavy cobalt shine is pretty common with this species.


to me this is what i call "You just have to be there" kindaa shot.

congrats Ken.

[Sandesh R.Dhareshwar]

I would say Just the kind of ideal settings for this bird Colors look perfect to me
"Excellent image"

[arash_hazeghi]

This is an elegant specie, I like the long tail.