<< Previous Next >>

Olive-backed Sunbird


Olive-backed Sunbird
Photo Information
Copyright: Chris Chafer (sandpiper2) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1906 W: 107 N: 4875] (16757)
Genre: Animals
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2008-07-21
Categories: Birds
Camera: Pentax K100D Super, Sigma 70-300 DG Macro, Matin 58mm UV
Exposure: f/8, 1/180 seconds
Photo Version: Original Version
Theme(s): Birds of Australia 2 [view contributor(s)]
Date Submitted: 2008-07-31 2:52
Viewed: 4826
Points: 23
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
Well I wasn’t especially happy with either image, but I wanted to post them. So I cropped them in Photoshop joined them together, played with the levels and then did noise reduction and sharpening in NeatImage, and this is the result. Not perfect, but not a total disaster either.

Click the image to view a larger version.

They are of course Olive-backed Sunbirds (Nectarinia jugularis), a tropical species about 120mm (5in) long and confined to the north-east coast of Australia, but also occur through Indonesia, new Guinea and South-east Asia. They feed on nectar and insects and are always very busy, flitting from one shrub to another.
We found this pair in the garden of the owner of Padminka Nature Reserve, a privately owned conservation reserve west of Mackay. A very nice place to go if your ever in the Mackay area and is full of birds and insects even at this coolest time of the year.

The male is on the left feeding in a Grevillea pink surprise, while the female is feeding on a Grevillea superb, both plants are native cultivars that attract any honey eating bird in the area to their abundant supply of golden nectar.
siggi, Seabird, aes_thor, Argus, jaycee, Alex99, uleko, ddg, Hormon_Manyer, ViZual, ramthakur has marked this note useful
Only registered TrekNature members may rate photo notes.
Add Critique [Critiquing Guidelines] 
Only registered TrekNature members may write critiques.
Discussions
ThreadThread Starter Messages Updated
To ramthakur: re candid critiquessandpiper2 1 08-02 02:58
To Hormon_Manyer: Thankssandpiper2 1 08-01 14:58
You must be logged in to start a discussion.

Critiques [Translate]

  • Great 
  • siggi Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3097 W: 109 N: 12399] (52850)
  • [2008-07-31 2:55]

Hello Chris,
Beautiful capture.POV,clear details,vivid colors,pose of birds and composition are exclelent.
Best regards Siggi

  • Great 
  • gannu Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 988 W: 4 N: 3277] (14761)
  • [2008-07-31 3:35]

Hello Chris, I like the first one on the (left side). This is a very good shot and your collage is also good to show different mood of the bird. Well done Ganesh

Hi, Chris,

excellent pictures with good composition, colours and details!! thanks for sharing these.

chrs,
Man Yee

Hi Chris,

both pictures are great- colours and details are fantastic. very interesting bird and plants.
Thanks a lot for this

cheers
Adrian

  • Great 
  • Argus Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 5038 W: 260 N: 15594] (50626)
  • [2008-07-31 6:45]

Hello Chris,
These sunbirds are the very devil to photograph, constantly on the move. So these two shots are great IMHO, presented to show a male and female Olive-backed from two great POV's and good sharpness in this double.
This is both nice to view and educational.
TFS,
Cheers,
Ivan

  • Great 
  • jaycee Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2454 W: 10 N: 8044] (25460)
  • [2008-07-31 10:49]

Hi Chris,

Wonderful to see the two views of the Sunbird. I saw them in India and know how hard it is to get a good shot of them. Beautiful colors, great details and a nice presentation.

Jane

  • Great 
  • Alex99 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 4072 W: 133 N: 7096] (23735)
  • [2008-07-31 11:19]

Hi Chris.
Amazing collage from two wonderful shots which supplements each other perfectly. Very cute scene, great details of the main subjects and terrific BG of both pictures. Lights and colours are simply stunning. Bravo and TFS.
Alexei.

  • Great 
  • uleko Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3396 W: 172 N: 3310] (10940)
  • [2008-08-01 5:54]

Hello Chris,
I think you should be happy with both these images, they're both excellent in my view! But they certainly look nice together here too. It's a beautiful little Sunbird and you show it very nicely on the Bottlebrush. Great details and colours and very nicely composed.
TFS and cheers, Ulla

  • Great 
  • ddg Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 867 W: 24 N: 1008] (5507)
  • [2008-08-01 6:53]

Bonjour Chris, these two shots are perfect!! composition, sharpness and color too. I like the grey BG that exhaust the yellow color of the birds. Well done, Didier.

  • Good 
  • ViZual (10)
  • [2008-08-01 14:20]

Ok, if you choose to make a panoramic with 2 different shoot at less make it equal. You have the same bird in the same tree but DIFFERENT colors. The left side (picture) I think is the wrong part, with unnatural colors.

Hi Chris,

You said these pics aren't perfect. I say: they're closed to. It's a very good idea to put them together and creating a panoramic image. Beautiful colors on both. I especially like the right side pic, because of the unique composition and awesome color contrast.

In the past few days I wasn't able to hang on the site, so I can reply to Your questions with small delay. Click here (also read the note update) and here, please.

Tfs this panoramic beauty, have a nice day, László

Romanian critics are sometimes unsparing in their candid critiques, Chris (don't mind the alliteration here: it was unintentional) ha,ha,ha!
Personally, I find your idea of putting two shots of the Subird together quite interesting. You have shown both the male and the female of the species in this format, thereby giving importance to the size of each image because these are small birds basically and you have taken very sharp pictures of them here.
Bravo, man!

Calibration Check
















0123456789ABCDEF