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Just Trilling


Just Trilling
Photo Information
Copyright: John Plumb (JPlumb) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 637 W: 166 N: 889] (2882)
Genre: Animals
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2007-06-23
Categories: Birds
Camera: Nikon D200, NIKKOR AF-S 18-200mm F3.5-5.6 ED DX VR
Exposure: f/6.7, 1/180 seconds
More Photo Info: [view]
Photo Version: Original Version
Date Submitted: 2007-12-11 18:59
Viewed: 760
Points: 24
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
This is a male Varied Triller (Lalage leucomela). You can tell he’s a male as he is black and white; the female is variably grey to brown above. He was “trilling” in the same tree as the Helmeted Friarbird I posted the other day. He obviously didn’t have the same concerns about hiding as the Friarbird, but he did move around a bit.

These are a small bird. I’ve seen a lot of different kinds of “black and white” birds in Australia. He is the smallest I’ve seen so far. They are said to be between 180 to 210 mm in length. They range across northern and eastern Australia, as far south as the Myall Lakes. They may also be found in New Guinea. They are more common in the warmer moister habitats (rainforest) than the dryer cooler areas of the south. They feed on insects, spiders, fruit and seeds. They tend to work their way slowly and methodically through foliage at any level searching for this food. They will make repeated rolling contact calls (trills) as they do this. These birds breed from August through to April. The nest consists of a small sallow saucer-shaped bowl made from fine twigs and vine bound with spiderweb.

Much of this from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varied_Triller
http://lamington.nrsm.uq.edu.au/Documents/Birds/variedtriller.htm
http://lamington.nrsm.uq.edu.au/Sounds/birds/lalageleucomela.wav
ID from: Simpson K. and Day N. (2004), Field Guide to the Birds of Australia, Penguin Books, Camberwell.

Workflow for this shot was as follows:
The shoot – shot in Raw with Jpeg reference
NEF file adjusted for exposure and shadow
Adjusted levels for black and white points – midpoints set by eye
Adjusted curves by auto, then slight adjustment for contrast
Burned and Dodged with overlay layer (5-10% opacity black and white brush)
Added saturation layer +15 to master
Saved as a tiff
For this post, resized, sharpened with USM (toned down edges and tree area with layer mask and 50% opacity black brush), framed, and saved as a jpeg
rcrick, JoseMiguel, Argus, pierrefonds, Adanac, mlines, vhemmati, smitha has marked this note useful
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Critiques [Translate]

  • Great 
  • rcrick Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 710 W: 36 N: 1542] (4971)
  • [2007-12-11 19:25]

G'day John,
Good capture of this Varied Triller, the exposure is spot on considering the lighting conditions you had to contend with under that canopy, looks like he's belting out one heck of a tune, all the best Cheers Rick :)

Hello John,
Nice capture of the action!
Seems like he enjoys singing...
Nice details in the plumage and the bird gives a fine pose!
Greetings,
Pablo -

  • Great 
  • Jamesp Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1351 W: 0 N: 5494] (16520)
  • [2007-12-12 3:59]

Hi John

Great exposure and POV - I find this type of shot very difficult to take, given the difficult light conditions, movement etc.

James

Hi John,
Very good capture of this v. triller!
I like very much the pose and expression got, with its beak wide open.
The composition and framing works pretty well for this picture.
Well done and thanks for share it.
My best regards,
JM

  • Great 
  • Argus Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3748 W: 186 N: 11161] (34473)
  • [2007-12-12 7:01]

Hello John,
Marvellous that you could take a good shot of a Varied Triller while singing. Great POV, good sharpness, exposure and composition among the foliage of this (fig?) tree.
This is a species we missed so it is extra nice to see.
Thanks for sharing this,
Ivan

  • Great 
  • lousat Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1930 W: 6 N: 5388] (19222)
  • [2007-12-12 7:19]

a wonderful pic take in a decisive moment,very perfect colours and details,thanks for share,Luciano

Hi John,

A nice image of the Varied Triller, the photo has a good composition, sharpness and beautiful colors. thanks for sharing.

Pierre

  • Great 
  • Adanac Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1169 W: 1 N: 5207] (17607)
  • [2007-12-12 19:08]

Hi John,
Fine capture with good focus and colors, the composition is sunperb. Thanks for sharing John.
Rick

  • Great 
  • EOSF1 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1381 W: 126 N: 5246] (23469)
  • [2007-12-13 8:44]

Hello John, very nice shot of this beautiful bird in action ! The shot is well composed, very sharp and the overall quality is very high. Thanks !

Mario

  • Great 
  • mlines Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 540 W: 23 N: 593] (2859)
  • [2007-12-28 15:44]

Hi John, Good to see this well arranged and timed composition of this small triller. Well positioned and nice and sharp. Its the sort of photo i took up photography for a few years ago. All the best for 2008. Murray.

  • Great 
  • arfer Gold Star Critiquer [C: 2731 W: 0 N: 0] (0)
  • [2008-02-03 18:25]

Hello John

A lovely capture of this Triller ,Trilling.
The Shot is well composed with the cute little bird being the centre of attention.
well saturated colours and very good use of the natural light.
You captured him singing it's heart out.
TFS

Rob

  • Great 
  • smitha Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 323 W: 75 N: 1002] (3753)
  • [2008-04-19 10:37]

Hello John,
Nice capture of the Triller Bird. I liked the action captured here with it busy singing. Good exposure control and POV.Ver informative notes too.
Thanks for the share,
Smitha.

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