Diamond Firetail

Gallery: AvianPosted April 17, 2010284 views23 comments

Diamond Firetail photographed in nearby eucalypt woodland. I digitally removed one pale grass stem passing behind the tail tip, but left the darker ones at lower left and right for balance - or are they a distraction.

Canon 7D, EF500, f/4 + 1.4x, ISO400, f/8, 1/1600, ec -1.

Comments

23 comments

Comment posted by Sharon Hallowell on April 17, 2010 at 8:53 PM

What a cool looking bird. I like the bg and since you asked, I would clone the other 2 stems also. Is this in the finch family?

Registered on November 1, 2003, 392 Posts, 4810 Comments

Comment posted by May Haga on April 17, 2010 at 8:55 PM

Wow, gorgeous little bird, gorgeous presentation. I rather like the out of focus grass if I were to remove anything it would be the one behind the tail but A1 presentation.
May

Registered on February 22, 2007, 714 Posts, 8470 Comments

Comment posted by Simon Bennett on April 17, 2010 at 9:04 PM

Thank you all for your comments. Sharon this bird is in the family Estrildidae - the grass finches of Australia, Asia and Africa.

Registered on February 4, 2007, 350 Posts, 4614 Comments

Comment posted by Terry Sohl on April 17, 2010 at 9:14 PM

Gorgeous. It's a wonderful perch, pose, and background. I would probably clone out the 2 darker grass strands.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 513 Posts, 6889 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on April 17, 2010 at 10:34 PM

Gorgeous bird, lighting and bg Simon. I'd be tempted to clone out the 2 dark stems

Registered on February 1, 2006, 1158 Posts, 19528 Comments

Comment posted by Brian Gatlin on April 17, 2010 at 10:54 PM

great light, cool bird--love that ring around the eye. very nice setting too. I go along with the general consensus to remove the grasses.

Registered on March 21, 2009, 202 Posts, 4187 Comments

Comment posted by Dan Harbour on April 17, 2010 at 11:13 PM

What a gorgeous bird. Great pose and view of that red eye and beak. Nice perch and bg. Excellent capture. No distraction from the grass for me.

Registered on January 4, 2008, 113 Posts, 2416 Comments

Comment posted by Drew Fulton on April 17, 2010 at 11:31 PM

Simon,

I worked hard to photograph these guys during my year in OZ as they were one of my favorite finches and never got anything like this. Mostly what I ended up with was finches coming in to water. Truly a spectacular image and the best I have seen of these colorful birds. I think they are my favorite, second only to the Painted Firetails/Finchs of the center.
Congrats!

Registered on November 1, 2003, 43 Posts, 357 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on April 17, 2010 at 11:36 PM

Beautiful, Simon. Nice pose and perch and a very wild looking bird. I really like the texture in the bg on this.

Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments

Comment posted by Russell Colletta on April 18, 2010 at 12:13 AM

I'd vote 'em off (the stems). The sharp detail and and pose are very nice.

Registered on October 31, 2009, 114 Posts, 1008 Comments

Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on April 18, 2010 at 12:23 AM

Beautiful bird, perfectly captured!
Yes, I'd remove the other twigs. They don't add anything and this bird and perch deserve all the focus!
Nice!

Sandy r

Registered on November 24, 2003, 3937 Posts, 12909 Comments

Comment posted by KC Choo on April 18, 2010 at 12:38 AM

What a gorgeous bird! Great capture and BG - I'd agree about removing the OOF bits.

Registered on November 15, 2004, 519 Posts, 8278 Comments

Comment posted by Simon Bennett on April 18, 2010 at 1:05 AM

Due to popular demand - a dark stem free repost.

Registered on February 4, 2007, 350 Posts, 4614 Comments

Comment posted by Avi Hirschfield on April 18, 2010 at 6:21 AM

Simon a real sweet shot the BG really makes the bird pop .
They are a slight distraction to that clean BG

Registered on November 1, 2003, 518 Posts, 2114 Comments

Comment posted by Nick Saunders on April 18, 2010 at 9:48 AM

A gorgeous little fella. Great light too Si.

Registered on February 6, 2008, 321 Posts, 3035 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Bielefeld on April 18, 2010 at 12:26 PM

Super shot of an awesome looking bird Simon. Love the repost. Great light, colors, and BG. Well done.

Registered on December 6, 2008, 360 Posts, 7132 Comments

Comment posted by Monica Siri on April 18, 2010 at 4:12 PM

If the first post was great, the repost is outstanding! Congrats, Simon.

Registered on September 20, 2009, 132 Posts, 3764 Comments

Comment posted by Dan Moore on April 18, 2010 at 9:36 PM

A real eye catcher. You folks have some great birds. Send more.

Dan

Registered on February 11, 2010, 143 Posts, 1248 Comments

Comment posted by Kurt Bowman on April 18, 2010 at 10:51 PM

Love the light and the colors! Very nicely done Simon

Registered on June 19, 2008, 1005 Posts, 8028 Comments

Comment posted by Rob Drummond on April 19, 2010 at 8:00 AM

Fantastic Simon, great detail, exposure and comp (and I'm jealous)

cheers
Rob

Registered on November 8, 2003, 617 Posts, 8267 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Hackley on April 19, 2010 at 3:20 PM

That is some color variation and patterns. I like the balance of the reeds and for me they are not a distraction. Well done.

Registered on September 17, 2009, 302 Posts, 5535 Comments

Comment posted by Cheryl Molennor on April 20, 2010 at 12:50 AM

Just beautiful. Love the bg color and the bird jumps right out.

Registered on June 30, 2009, 300 Posts, 5051 Comments

Comment posted by Chris Ross on April 20, 2010 at 8:29 AM

Very nice Simon, I got some shots on the weekend, but they weren't in this class, they seem to be quite shy! I'd think you could just crop out the remaining stems.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 403 Posts, 2729 Comments