India Blue Peacock
Captured at the LA Arboretum, this peacock really shows the color for which it is named. The colors and patterns on peafowl are created by the structure of their feathers, not by pigment. This is called structural color and is seen in many birds. Mid-morning light, somewhat overcast, and captured in the shade.
1D4, EF400mm f/5.6L
Manual mode, f/5.6@1/500 ISO 800 WB 5200K
AI Servo autofocus, hand-held no flash
"It is an illusion that photos are made with the camera... they are made with the eye, heart, and head." - Henri Cartier Bresson
Please visit me on the web at http://kerryperkinsphotography.com
Perfect exposure, intense blue on this bird. Love the head adornment.
Jack
Beautiful image Kerry. Can I assume that "WB 5200K" means you manually set the white balance to that temperature reading? If so, what was your actual lighting like that led you to select this setting?
Super image Kerry--love the pose and the intense color and the reflection in the bird's eye.
Thank you for your comments! Ron, I treat white balance just like ISO, shutter speed, and aperture. I like to make the decisions rather than let the camera guess at things, which is what "auto" anything does (and also what the meter does!). I have over twenty years of experience in calibrating projectors, plasmas, LCD screens, etc. for the broadcast and film industry. I only mention that to explain that I treat color as something that I can adjust as I capture and therefore I do. 5200K (Kelvin) is what most digital cameras consider to be the "daylight" setting, and it is my base color temp setting as I go out shooting in normal daylight. I am constantly assessing my images as I shoot, and if I see the color of the light changing I will adjust the camera's white balance as needed to maintain good color balance. You should try it sometime - set your white balance to "K" and put it at 5200. Go out and shoot what you would normally shoot in typical daylight. What you will notice is that the color balance of your images will be very consistent, which is not always the case when you use AWB. This is a big topic, and maybe I will do an article on it for the Ezine...
"It is an illusion that photos are made with the camera... they are made with the eye, heart, and head." - Henri Cartier Bresson
Please visit me on the web at http://kerryperkinsphotography.com
Fabulous image!!! The fine detail in the head is awesome. Beautifully done.
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