Yellow-tailed Cockatoo

[PhilCook]

• Canon EOS 7D
• EF500mm f/4L IS USM +1.4x
• ƒ/6.3
• 700mm
• 1/1000s
• ISO 640
• Flash not fired
• Thu, 20 June 2013 11:26 AM
• Adobe Photoshop Elements 8.0 Windows

Came across a flock of these feeding high in the Gum trees near home, once on the endangered list they are making a come back now.

Canon 7D + 500 f4 + 1.4 x TC.....700mm, f6.3, 1/1000, ISO 640, hand held, manual exposure, no flash.....cropped to vertical, selective sharpen, cloned out a fine twig behind the head, lightened shadows slightly...slight bluish color cast I cant seem to remove ?

 

[Randy Stout]

Phil:

The side lighting has given tremendous texture to the feathers, and it works very well. Well exposed, nice head angle.

If you had time to shoot a vertical originally, it would have been nice to see the entire height of the bird, even though it is partially blocked by the gum tree.

The leaves on the tree look a bit sharper than the breast feathers, so I think the plane of focus may have been a bit our way.

Cheers

Randy

 

[Joe Senzatimore]

Glad to hear they are making a comeback. Would be a shame to lose such a stunning subject. love the image and the bit of habitat it shows.

 

[arash_hazeghi]

I like the pose and details. The shooting angle was a bit steep here and doesn't quite work with the cut tail, I am with Randy re having the full height of the bird.

TFS

 

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Phil, I like the ruffled feathers, and the cockatoo seems alerted to something down below. I do like how the beak is 'tucked' into the plumage.

 

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

So good to hear they are coming back!
A very pretty bird and with great texture on feathers. A bit steep and wish the tail was visible. Did you tried to shoot some portrait images also?

 

[Karl Egressy]

It's a good news and a nice picture of a great looking bird, Phil.

 

[Richard Unsworth]

As shot is lovely, glad to hear of a species recovering, very nice 3D effect

 

[Arthur Morris]

Upper half of the image is superb--sharp with wonderful detail. Lower half, not so superb for the reasons noted above.

 

[PhilCook]

Cheers, I deliberately cropped the bottom tail section off as i felt it added nothing worthwhile to the image, but as is brought more attention to the birds head, but easy enough to crop with tail included

 

[Arthur Morris]

Then lets see a repost. You can't cut the virtual tail off a Yellow-tailed Cockatoo. Teasing is not allowed here!

 

[PhilCook]

Then lets see a repost. You can't cut the virtual tail off a Yellow-tailed Cockatoo. Teasing is not allowed here!

Why ?.......I have a number of other images with the full tail......the tail in this one is behind many leaves anyway which is why I cropped as is...and I prefer it as is.

 

[Arthur Morris]

Because all wanted to see a version with the tail and you wrote, and I quote, "but easy enough to crop with tail included."

 

[PhilCook]

• Canon EOS 7D
• EF500mm f/4L IS USM +1.4x
• ƒ/6.3
• 700mm
• 1/1000s
• ISO 640
• Flash not fired
• Thu, 20 June 2013 11:26 AM

Because all wanted to see a version with the tail and you wrote, and I quote, "but easy enough to crop with tail included."

No, not all wanted to see a version with tail ....happy now ?

 

[Arthur Morris]

Happiness is a choice. I choose always to be happy. Though I far prefer the wider crop in Pane #14, sometimes you gotta ask yourself, "What the heck does he know about bird photography?" And you can include Arash there too .

Thanks for the repost.

 

[PhilCook]

In so many ways................

" None are so blind as those who will not see " (Moody Blues)

 

[Shawn Zierman]

Very pretty bird Phil and I enjoy the feathers being puffed up and the great head angle. It was a jungle down there at the bottom of the frame in #14! I prefer the OP. Interesting to me, is that the bill looks brighter in the OP than it does in pane #14, and maybe not just because it's smaller in the frame? Possible due to the lightening of the shadows I guess....

 

[David Salem]

Hi Phil, I like the OP myself as it concentrates on the main part of the bird that we want to see. I dont care about the virtual tail in this situation, they have a long tail and look how much leaves there are down there. Good job on the techs and the detail. Nice work.