I like the pose and the head angle. The light appears quite harsh-what time was this taken? Too bad his nictitating membrane is lowered. I think I would selectively lower the brightness in the BG .
I like the feeding pose,
Gil
It was at 09h00. Difficult to get detail in the black feathers without over exposing the back ground, the Kgaligadi grass is quite a light colour in winter. It is a pity about the eye. Thanks for the comments.
Because of the need to have enough exposure to get detail in the blacks, and hence the very light BG, I would consider a double raw conversion, one for the blacks and one for the background, combine them with a mask on the top layer, and then just brush in the areas you want to show. I have to do this with loons because of the often 3 stop difference between the best exposure for the whites versus the dark areas.
What a bird! Do like the pose. Sometimes, depending on how opacified the nictitating membrane is, you can tease out a little detail in the eye.
Cool! This is not a species we see too often of, especially ones showing the whole body. I like the feeding behaviour, but too bad about the nictitating membrane. I'm OK with the grass' brightness.
On the nictitating membrane... sometimes we are unfortunate enough to catch a bird that just happens to have its membrane over the eye, like a wedding portrait with a blinking bride or groom, and it can spoil an otherwise great shot. But birds also use the nictitating membrane to protect the eye when feeding and I think that is what happened here. And that makes it an integral part of the shot. I know that many people don't like to see it and some will paste in a new eye, but for me that would miss the point here.
I like the grasses fading away from focus and the dynamic pose of the bird with the neck in such as smooth curve.
Ben, nice pose and details. liked the grasses. If me, I'd have opened up the aperture for that much subject distance. I think you'd have still got the feel of grasses and a bit better BG separation.
I quite like the image Ben. The repost certainly gives an idea of what can be done but I'm not sure which one is more true to life. I like the feeding behaviour. Good comments from John regarding the membrane. In this photo I don't see the membrane as being so obvious that it makes or breaks the image.
Kgalagadi Ostrich
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