Satin Bower Bird - On the Hop...

[FootLoose]

I have tried to capture an image of these birds on many occasions but they usually take off the second they realise I am watching them. So it was a surprise when one emerged from the shrubbery while I was seated on a bench in the shade and started hopping towards me. Unfortunately I wasn't prepared and only managed a couple of frames that presentable.

1. Crouch




2. Spring



3. Land



4. Anyone See Me?



5. Anyone....?

[Shadowman]

Nice captures.

[IzzieK]

Very good 'coupla shots' indeed! It must be building a nest somewhere for near springtime. It's time to woo-ing a female...did you make sure you scatter a few blue stuff nearby? I've read about these courtship routine while I was at a reserve in Melbourne. I'd love to take picture of its courtship dance...

[John 2]

Great series Greg. Love 4 and 5 in particular.

[FootLoose]

Very good 'coupla shots' indeed! It must be building a nest somewhere for near springtime. It's time to woo-ing a female...did you make sure you scatter a few blue stuff nearby? I've read about these courtship routine while I was at a reserve in Melbourne. I'd love to take picture of its courtship dance...

Hi Izzie,
I was in the botanic gardens seeking some serenity, sitting on a bench when this bird appeared. It may not have noticed me because after that 5th shot, it continued hopping right past me, within a few metres, to its bower several metres behind me. I grabbed about another 20 frames, but it was too fast for me and all were out of focus. Yes, it is nesting season here. It must be a good year for breeding because there are birds nesting everywhere. And yes again, bower birds are crazy about blue - blue milk bottle tops, blue plastic drinking straws, blue clothes pegs - you name it, anything of that shade of bright blue. The irony is that the birds conceal their bower, but then decorate it with bright blue objects which kind of give them away.

Thanks for commenting.

[FootLoose]

Great series Greg. Love 4 and 5 in particular.

Thanks, John.

[Ziggy]

That is a neat series. Really like #3.

[csa mt]

Fantastic captures! Very difficult to pick a favorite, but am leaning towards #2 & 3; but all are excellent!

[bnnrcn]

Very nice set Greg I especially like #4 and #5.

[dje]

Good captures Greg, you've handled the exposure well for the black bird.

Dave

[Brownbear]

Lovely set of a beautiful bird. Does it really have violet eyes?

My fave is #4 because the bird is looking right at me, followed by #5 (lovely blurred grass), and #3 for the pose. All the poses are wonderful, and all beautifully focused and sharp.

No one has mentioned it but I see a halo perhaps from sharpening or downsizing?

[FootLoose]

John, Izzie, John, Jim, Carol, Binnur, Dave and Christina, thank you all for commenting.

Yes, their eyes are that colour, I didn't do any toning. And they are a really sleek, dark glossy blue-black. Possibly the blackest bird I have ever seen.

I didn't notice the halo in the jpegs, Christina. It isn't there in the psd, so must be a result of the conversion. I'll have to be more attentive.

I might try Izzie's suggestion and take something bright blue for them next time I visit. Maybe I could get a shot of them collecting it.

[dje]

I didn't notice the halo in the jpegs, Christina. It isn't there in the psd, so must be a result of the conversion.

Greg the halos might be caused by the downsizing when producing a jpeg for the web. I had this issue quite some time ago and tracked it down to the downsizing method used in PS. I found that Bicubic Sharper or Bicubic Automatic were causing halos in situations where you had a very clear boundary between two fairly uniform but different colours. When I changed the default method to Bicubic (best for smooth gradients), the effect became insignificant. With this method of downsizing, a little sharpening needs to be applied after the downsizing. I typically use Smart Sharpen, Amount 40, pixel radius 0.5 but you can experiment with the settings yourself.

Dave

[FootLoose]

Ahh, thanks Dave. I had this stuff set up in CC 2014, but lost all my settings when I upgraded to 2015 and didn't even think to check this when I converted.