Elegant Trogon
by David Sparks
D300, 500mm f/4, tripod
1/250 sec at f/14, ISO 400
Cropped to 60% of full frame. Sharpening and other minor adjustments with LR2 and CS3. The clone tool was used to reduce distracting effects of OOF foreground branches to the left of the bird.
Photo taken April 6, 2010 at Patagonia Lake State Park in southeastern Arizona. At the head of one of the hiking trails, I was told that an Elegant Trogon had been spotted and was given information about where to look. I think I took a wrong turn, but as I was about to retrace my path to the major trail the bird flew past me and landed behind me. The bird chose various perches, all behind lots of branches, but finally settled down in one spot, still in pretty dense cover. Two birders that I met on the trail found a small opening providing a fairly open view and this photo was taken through the opening by lowering the tripod so that the camera was about six inches above the ground. The bird stayed on this perch for many minutes and I took many shots, constantly varying settings. This is my favorite pose of the set because of the head position and better light on the head of the bird.
Comments and suggestions desired.
Comments
18 commentsThank you for the sugestions and comment on my post.
As for this image --it is stunning. I might like a little more room on the left but I would also like to be able to take a shot this spot on!! Great job.
Dan
- Luke
There's been an Elegant Trogon thats been spending the winter at Patagonia Lake for a few years now but it usually requires a wet hike up the creek that feeds the lake to find it.
cheers
Rob
Great job David.
Peter
Ken Archer