Malabar Horn Bill

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Camera	Canon EOS 7D
Exposure	0.002 sec (1/640)
Aperture	f/6.3
Focal Length	400 mm
ISO Speed	250
Exposure Bias	+2 EV

The subject was back lit and hence had to increase EC, couldn't avoid the blown out and washed out sky! Used shadows and highlights tool to recover some detail. But I liked the bird, had to travel to the west coast of India to see this magnificent bird with its impressive beak!! C & C welcome.
Regards
Sanjeev


Malabar Hornbill by docsanjeev, on Flickr

[Kerry Perkins]

Hello Sanjeev, congrats on getting an image of this bird - I would be excited to have this opportunity! In a situation like this, you need to forget about the sky, it is going to be blown out. Having said that, the bird itself is dark which means that you could have gone even higher than +2 with EC. I would suggest cropping from the left enough to eliminate the vertical branch. The leftover leaf could be cloned out easily. Don't forget that you have a pretty good flash built into your camera body. This would have been a good time to use it.

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Thanks Kerry, I always forget that there is a flash on board!Should remeber to use it in situations such as these. Sometimes we get so engrossed in trying to bet the best angle that we forget the fine points! Will make a vertical crop of it as you suggest.