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Old Blue Eyes


Old Blue Eyes
Photo Information
Copyright: John Plumb (JPlumb) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 637 W: 166 N: 889] (2884)
Genre: Animals
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2007-04-07
Categories: Birds
Camera: Nikon D200, Nikkor 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6G ED-IF AF-S VR
Exposure: f/6.7, 1/750 seconds
More Photo Info: [view]
Photo Version: Original Version, Workshop
Date Submitted: 2007-06-06 19:57
Viewed: 1025
Points: 27
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
While walking around Adelaide one day, I was first attracted to this pair by the noise of the large group they were with. As I walked closer for a group shot the birds kept moving on, from tree to tree (see workshop), so I don’t have a great group shot, but these two were accommodating.

The Little Corella are mostly white, with a distinctive blue eye-ring and a pale rose-pink patch between the eye and bill. In flight, (see workshop) a bright sulphur-yellow wash can be seen on the underwing and tail.

They are widespread throughout Australia, but with large gaps separating the populations. I haven’t seen this type in Sydney yet, but I’ll keep looking. They often form very large noisy flocks and can be a pest in agricultural areas with the eating of grains, bulbs and fruits.

They will breed at any time of year when conditions are suitable (rainfall). They are thought to mate for life. The nest site is a suitable tree hollow, lined with shavings of wood. They may keep this nest for several years. Both sexes incubate the two to four eggs and both care for the chicks. The eggs hatch in about 25 days.
Much of this from:
http://www.amonline.net.au/factsheets/little_corella.htm

Workflow was as follow:
Shot in Raw - NEF files adjusted for highlights and shadow
Rotated to level
Adjusted levels
Adjusted curves
Filtered for noise on sky selection
Dodged and burned with overlay layer (5% opacity brush) – mostly on the highlights and shadows on the birds
Added a layer for sharpening and “over-sharpened” with Smart Sharpen
Modified sharpening with a layer mask (15% opacity black brush)
Saved as a tiff
For this post, cropped and sharpened for the reduced size, framed, and saved as a jpeg
joelo, Jamesp, lawhill, kjpweb, mlines, gypsygirl58, deblink, SkyF, pierrefonds has marked this note useful
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ThreadThread Starter Messages Updated
To Jamesp: Bug FlocksJPlumb 2 06-08 03:33
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Critiques [Translate]

  • Great 
  • trinko Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 593 W: 79 N: 323] (4314)
  • [2007-06-06 21:10]

very interesting birds, very sky blue eyes. nice color and focus

  • Good 
  • joelo Silver Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Silver Note Writer [C: 40 W: 10 N: 37] (148)
  • [2007-06-06 22:16]

Hi John,
The composition is delightful, but the highlights have almost no detail visible, especially on the upper bird. For white birds, you need to underexpose. Sometimes by a full stop or more. It is also possible that the problem was introduced in the post processing.
TFS, Joel

  • Great 
  • arfer Gold Star Critiquer [C: 2731 W: 0 N: 0] (0)
  • [2007-06-06 22:54]

Hello John

A neat capture of these little Corella.The eye detail is very good.Well seen in bright conditions.The whites are a little OE but the composition is very well done.Excellent POV.TFS

Rob

  • Great 
  • Mana Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1899 W: 36 N: 5578] (18516)
  • [2007-06-07 7:53]

Hi John,
Splendid shot of this twin birds. The whites are a bit over exposed but it is very difficult to manage white colour in bright light. I like your POV. The eyes are gorgeous. Very nicely composed. Kudos.
TFS.
Sumon

Hello John,
I like the postures and interactions between the birds!
Seems like they are discussin g how to relate to the photographer...
Well composed image!
Greetings,
Pablo -

  • Great 
  • Jamesp Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1351 W: 0 N: 5494] (16522)
  • [2007-06-07 12:24]
  • [+]

Hi John

A great capture - especially of a white bird in bright conditions. Good composition.

Have you seen the big flocks in the Outback yet?

James

Hello John,
Nice shot showing this two birds, nice colors
great composition TFS regards/Lawhill

Nice shot! Interesting to see these blue eyes. Well done!

  • Great 
  • mlines Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 541 W: 24 N: 596] (2870)
  • [2007-06-08 19:53]

Hi John. You have a good eye and knack for capturing Australian wildlife. I like these as never seen or heard of them before. Good details around those eye. Good work. Murray.

Hi John,
Great capture of these two Corellas. Excellent sharpness and details and the blue eyes really stand out! The whites are a tad OE but white is so hard to get right! I have trouble with it all the time! Great composition and POV! Well done and TFS
Cheers Tina :-)

Hi John,
Heck these birds are noisy, aren't they. Nice image of these two. Lucky they were both looking the same way. I like the blurred background.
Cheers,
Debbie

  • Great 
  • Ken52 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 640 W: 98 N: 1241] (4189)
  • [2007-06-12 21:12]

This is an interesting bird and informative post. Unusual shade of white with unusual eye. Very nice balance in your composition.

  • Great 
  • SkyF Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2244 W: 188 N: 1929] (8127)
  • [2007-06-27 19:08]

Hi John,
what wonderful blue eyes those birds have they look very timid its hard to belief that they are so noisy. Mind you in such a large group one must get noisy to be heard.
Quite an assembly of bird in that workshop. Nice catch on those two very nice how the pair is sharing the branch, good timing, caught them before they took off with the rest.
Wewll done.
Sky

Hi John,

A nice image of the white corellas, the photo has a good composition, sharpness and nice colors. Thanks for sharing.

Pierre

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