Corellas in the trees

[Ozzie_Traveller]

G'day all

The other day on my morning walk I came across a tree with 40 to 50 Corellas actively harvesting the tree nuts. As they jumped from branch to branch, they stopped a while to grab the seeds and chew thru the casing to get to the soft inner bits, before dropping the remains to the ground, leaving a huge mess behind for foot traffic to negotiate.


exif- Panny FZ-200; 1/320s x F4,0; ISO-160; lens at 400mm (FF equiv)

As always, feedback welcome
Phil

[Grumpy John]

Nice shot of a Little Corella going about his business. Perhaps a slight shadows lift to bring out the detail around the eye and the foliage.

Here's a quick edit of what I mean.

[Isac]

Thanks John, good work. You're a PS master in the making.

[Grumpy John]

I'm a long way off being a master Isac, but I am starting to see what is required to "lift" an image even before I start the editing process. Masks allow for surgical precision when modifying specific parts of the image.

[Isac]

Ah, it's great when the penny drops John. the Luminosity masks are fabulous for targeting the bright or dark areas with precision.

[HansE]

Nice. Prefer #2 for the bird and #1 for the foliage. But may change that on seeing the result. Awkward old bugger here! I see I have lost my signature as well

[wigz]

Nice shot Phil. These birds are real characters and can be a lot of fun to photograph.

I think just lightening the birds face would be good, leaving the background as it is.

[Ozzie_Traveller]

G'day all

Thanks fellas for your thoughts and offers (all donations of $$ gratefully received as well

This raises some very interesting concepts - the original scene that I remember vs the image / view as you perceive it
1) the tree leaves -were- a very dark green -and- I was on the shady side of the tree ... so that is what I saw on-site and therefore it was as I remembered it
2) image #2 does lift the leaves and makes them 'nicer' to view, so I'll go along with that thought, and
3) yes- I see your ideas about lightening the face and beak as well - so I will have a play along those lines

It is one of the images I am considering for the camera club comp later in the year entitled 'birds', to extra thanks to you all
Phil