A bird that shows the danger of naming it based on a specimen in breeding plumage! The only white on this one was the specular highlights from the water drops on the bill and legs. The iridescent plumage makes surprisingly good camouflage against the water reflections.
What technical feedback would you like if any?
I removed a bunch of white spots from the bill and legs and cleaned up the water a bit. Did I make it reasonably imperceptible?
What artistic feedback would you like if any?
Does the bird pop adequately?
Pertinent technical details or techniques:
7D II, Sigma 150-600 C @ 600 mm, beanbag on car window, f/8, 1/1600, iso 640, manual exposure. Processed in LR & PS CC. In addition to the cloning mentioned above, I adjusted relative exposures of the bird and background and burned some of the brighter reeds. Cropped to 4158x2946 before resizing. Taken at 9:16 am on February 6th in the Sacramento NWR complex.
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No nits. The Ibis stands out well. Good detail and you caught the colors nicely. Nice pose. I like the colors and ripples in the water.
Hi Dennis,
A nice capture–the highlights look good and the exposure is spot on. I like this one as presented…Jim
Looks just right to me. When I go down to our local wildlife refuge I think this bird is my fav to see and shoot of all of the species I get to see there especially when the sun catches their iridescent feathers like this. They remind me of a two-legged Kiwi with a crazy long cartoon bill.
He is really beautiful, Dennis, even without the white face. You did a great job capturing those beautiful colors in his feathers. I don’t think I have ever seen one of these, maybe they are on the west coast and not the east.
Superb job of bringing out the color and detail on a bird I find difficult to get.
