Valentine Inca Doves

Gallery: AvianPosted February 14, 201596 views6 comments

These were the two Inca doves I found while looking for the Roadrunners. In honor of Valentine's Day, I thought I would post this pair of lovebirds. I stopped down to f18 in order to get both birds sharp. They were very still and I had a good rest for the camera. Good thing, because the resultant shutter speed was only 1/100s. I think it worked reasonably well. I just love the three dimensional look of their feathers and, of course, those red eyes. Processed using Lightroom 5 and Photoshop CC 2014. Comments and critiques welcome.

Canon 7D Mark II
Canon 200-400 f4 L IS
f18
1/100s
ISO 160
Focal Length 560mm (Teleconverter Engaged)

Comments

6 comments

Comment posted by John Robinson on February 14, 2015 at 12:21 PM

Nice one Jerry Wouldn't normally work with the birds facing away but this seems to ! Just worked out I have bought my wife 51 Valentine cards! Think of the cost!!!
Good stuff
John

Registered on March 2, 2008, 535 Posts, 2453 Comments

Comment posted by Jerry Austin on February 14, 2015 at 12:24 PM

John,

Congratulations on 51 years. I'm at 30 and counting. (smile)

Jerry

Registered on January 6, 2012, 651 Posts, 3448 Comments

Comment posted by Stephen Kaluski on February 14, 2015 at 1:01 PM

Hi Jerry, very striking eyes and set against the more 'muted' plumage, they just sing out. The habitat and location is what it is, you can't change that, but interesting how well they blend into the environment, although the barbed wire is not ideal, but being rusty certainly helps. I certainly agree that 1/100 is not ideal and cranking up the ISO would have been better, but if this is HH, WD.

My only suggestion would be to selectively open up the Shadows/Blacks in LR within the log and underneath, based on the larger image they appears to be blocking a bit in parts and this would allow more of the finer detail, texture and appearance to be less heavy, just my take.

TFS
Steve

Registered on March 25, 2007, 189 Posts, 1064 Comments

Comment posted by Scott Frye on February 14, 2015 at 2:17 PM

Good job on the eyes -- not easy with two birds in the picture -- and birds are not lost in the background for me

Registered on February 3, 2007, 387 Posts, 1136 Comments

Comment posted by John Tobias on February 14, 2015 at 9:47 PM

IMHO this works very well with the birds looking away from each other. Also think the detail in the feathers makes them stand out nicely. Good image. Thanks for sharing.

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

Comment posted by Howard Cheek on February 15, 2015 at 9:28 AM

I see these mating pairs here often, they like to hang tight

I like the 'conjoined' aspect, unique shot Jerry!

Registered on July 24, 2008, 1201 Posts, 10758 Comments