Redbilled Oxpecker

[Gabriela Plesea]

• NIKON CORPORATION NIKON Z 9
• NIKKOR Z 400mm f/2.8 TC VR S
• ƒ/6.3
• 400mm
• 1/2000s
• ISO 1100
• GABRIELA PLESEA
• Sat, 25 January 2025 4:55 PM
• COPYRIGHT GABRIELA PLESEA ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2025
• Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic 14.1.1 (Macintosh)

Hello Everyone,

Haven't seen an image of a redbilled oxpecker here for some time, I know Stu Bowie loved the species and posted one every now and then. Background a bit bright I know, initially a lot brighter but I dropped exposure a little. Bird is perched on the back of a buffalo. Do you think I should clean up those white bits on the subject's back, let me know. Happy with any feedback, be it of a technical nature or otherwise.

Techs as follows:
Nikon Z9
Nikon 400mm F2.8 TC @600mm (DX crop)
ISO 1100
F6.3
1/2000s

Kind regards,
Gabriela

 

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Gabriela, nice to see you back posting again considering all the issues you have with Wi-fi and storms that bring down communication lines, plus the inevitable Shed loading!!! How you run a company, do the extremely hours and have those pressures I do not know?

Good old Stu, a true legend and is just as spritely as he ever was, with a wicked sense of humour, all great to see him too.

Perhaps not the nicest of birds considering what they do, almost boarding on Vampirish in their habits.

Good call on the crop mode, but the Buff colour, dark brown, not black??? A bit more of a head turn I feel, he/she is just a fraction looking away I think? Have you considered just dropping the BKG a fraction to create that layering and distance, in doing so, just drop that Contrast/too, just adds in the front of the subject.

So good to see you back posting, hopefully others will chime in too.

TFS
Steve

 

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hi Gabriela, nice to see you back posting again considering all the issues you have with Wi-fi and storms that bring down communication lines, plus the inevitable Shed loading!!! How you run a company, do the extremely hours and have those pressures I do not know?

Good old Stu, a true legend and is just as spritely as he ever was, with a wicked sense of humour, all great to see him too.

Perhaps not the nicest of birds considering what they do, almost boarding on Vampirish in their habits.

Good call on the crop mode, but the Buff colour, dark brown, not black??? A bit more of a head turn I feel, he/she is just a fraction looking away I think? Have you considered just dropping the BKG a fraction to create that layering and distance, in doing so, just drop that Contrast/too, just adds in the front of the subject.

So good to see you back posting, hopefully others will chime in too.

TFS
Steve

Thank you dear Steve for kind comments and suggestions,

Due to lighting conditions the BG was super bright and subject quite dark, I did my best to bring the bird forward.
BTW this is almost FF, only cropped a tad from the LHS.
Had a look at this folder and you were right, the 'perch' wasn't a buffalo but an impala in the shade, therefore the dark brown
And I agree regarding head turn... found a number of better images which I will process over time...err...waiting for new hardware to arrive

PS. Load shedding a nightmare, at home we have a noisy generator but when it's off an Anker power bank keeps my computers going. At work inverter with batteries that last about seven hours and a big generator. I work long hours, yes. Out at 7 am and back around 7 pm, sometimes earlier. Do spend about an hour looking at wildlife and sometimes taking photographs. This morning was late for work because of a cheetah mom and cub, they were lying on the side of the road just outside camp, could not resist spending some time with them I'll send you some images when I process.

Warmest regards,
Gabriela

 

[Jonathan Ashton]

I like the Oxpecker rendition, pleasing colours and good detail I find the background a little vivid - I agree with Steve I would tone it down a little more. The buffalo's back appears to have a brown slightly orange tinge to me, maybe it was like this?
The white flecks on the Oxpecker, I would leave them - they make an additional talking point

 

[Steve Kaluski]

Due to lighting conditions the BG was super bright and subject quite dark, I did my best to bring the bird forward.

The BKG is true, shot enough to know, but the 'tonal range' is just too close I think to push the subject forward.

Had a look at this folder and you were right, the 'perch' wasn't a buffalo but an impala in the shade, therefore the dark brown

I was thinking perhaps you had a different 'strain' of Buff with you, but now it makes sense.

This morning was late for work because of a cheetah mom and cub

Thanks for the video clips, makes a change from the traffic we have to deal with here, I know what I would prefer....

 

[Gabriela Plesea]

I like the Oxpecker rendition, pleasing colours and good detail I find the background a little vivid - I agree with Steve I would tone it down a little more. The buffalo's back appears to have a brown slightly orange tinge to me, maybe it was like this?
The white flecks on the Oxpecker, I would leave them - they make an additional talking point

Thank you very much Jon,

The BG was hard work in PP a little too much of everything, very dark and very bright bits. I'll try tone it further.
And it was an impala in the shade, apologies for the confusion!

Kind regards,
Gabriela

 

[Steve Kaluski]

The BG was hard work in PP a little too much of everything, very dark and very bright bits. I'll try tone it further.
And it was an impala in the shade, apologies for the confusion!

Gabriela, I will try and send you something on perhaps how to address that BKG, albeit (great word) I'm sure you know already all within Lr. Sometimes converting to B/W eliminates that, but then the content may not benefit in doing so.

 

[Gabriela Plesea]

Gabriela, I will try and send you something on perhaps how to address that BKG, albeit (great word) I'm sure you know already all within Lr. Sometimes converting to B/W eliminates that, but then the content may not benefit in doing so.

Thank you very much Steve, happy to try anything you suggest!

 

[Steve Kaluski]

You need to be very carful and use a light hand, but you will get the gist. Tomorrow is a very busy day, comms are off, so once I locate it you will just have to drill down. Perhaps park it and then try once you are upland running.

 

[Gabriela Plesea]

You need to be very carful and use a light hand, but you will get the gist. Tomorrow is a very busy day, comms are off, so once I locate it you will just have to drill down. Perhaps park it and then try once you are upland running.

I will do so, thank you Steve