Pretty Boy

Gallery: AvianPosted March 24, 2012149 views7 comments

Out at sunrise to the local nature area to see what's happening. I switched my gear from the deer mode to the turkey mode as the toms are now fully into the "silly season." Quite a few toms strutting around showing off their stuff to what seemed to be largely uninterested hens. I got a number of decent images that I'll most likely post through the week as the weather for the next week looks pretty wet. This tom was cooperative and I got a pretty good pose out of him. Needs a bit more room on the bottom for his feet and I lost a bit of detail on the top of his head which is an ongoing problem with these guys. I think this is my first post in Avian but more to come. Full frame image with only sharpening for the web and resizing. Comments and critiques are welcomed and much appreciated.

Tech Info: Canon 60D, 70-200mm f/4L @ 126mm, 1/100th at f/7.1, and ISO 800. Hand held.

Comments

7 comments

Comment posted by John Tobias on March 24, 2012 at 8:14 AM

Nice image Peter, well done IMHO. The feet are OK, looks like the grass is tall enough they would not show anyway. I do agree with loss of detail on the top of their heads, have the same problem. Great detail in the feathers, you caught him with a great display going on. Thanks for sharing.

Registered on September 12, 2009, 2120 Posts, 6455 Comments

Comment posted by Sally Wood on March 24, 2012 at 10:27 AM

Wow, this guy is Big!! I agree, the most striking thing that catches your eye right away is the plumage.. Love the green grass natural background.

Registered on March 8, 2012, 39 Posts, 509 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Ditch on March 24, 2012 at 1:49 PM

A solid image as posted. I agree with your self critique. There's a very peaceful mood to this that makes it almost timeless.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 1031 Posts, 12705 Comments

Comment posted by Barbara Graham on March 24, 2012 at 2:04 PM

The larger version of this shows off the beauty of all the different feathers wonderfully. Even though you lost, as you said, a bit of detail on the top of his head there is quite a bit of detail there also.

Registered on July 27, 2010, 1310 Posts, 5035 Comments

Comment posted by Wayne Jones on March 26, 2012 at 12:35 AM

Wow, Peter, fantastic detail in the large version. Yeah, I think it would look even better if there were more room on the bottom, even though his feet are hidden in the grass. Looks like there is enough detail in the head so that you can recover it by double processing the RAW image and copying a semi-transparent layer of that part of the darker image on top of the original image. (Or maybe just a local curves adjustment would do it.) Very cooperative bird: Did you call it?

Registered on April 18, 2007, 953 Posts, 6435 Comments

Comment posted by Matt Shellenberg on March 26, 2012 at 12:39 PM

Nice job getting this guy in full strut, Peter. I agree with your critique, however I think some of the detail can be recovered from the head area with a selective levels adjustment. Great image as posted.

Registered on February 6, 2008, 168 Posts, 3118 Comments

Comment posted by Basri Akcasoy on March 28, 2012 at 5:18 AM

Very impressive shot with pose and detail. TFS.

Registered on February 16, 2012, 118 Posts, 767 Comments