Cock Pheasant

[DavidM61]

A shot of a cock pheasant, taken handheld on Nikon D300s with Sigma 150 - 500mm f5 - 6.3 DG OS lens at 500mm, f8, 1\640s with 0 EV. Any comments/suggestions on composition, exposure etc warmly welcomed.



Thanks

Regards
David

[kdoc856]

Gorgeous bird. I've not seen one before- have you pumped up the saturation a bit or are they actually that colorful? I suspect you didnt have much choice in where the bird was standing, but in an ideal situation having him away from the tree limb on the ground would spare the impression of him being impaled by it. Perhaps you could clone out the branch both fore and aft?

[DavidM61]

Yes, they really are that colourful, especially at this time of the year - trying to attract females!! I agree about the stick, and might a go in Photoshop Elements at removing it.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi David,

Yes, worth a try at cloning that branch out with PSE.

I believe it was probably over exposed at capture by a half to one stop which has resulted in lost detail on the beak and also, because the red and green channels clipped, the face and grass (not that we care about the latter much)

I have yet to 'bag' a Pheasant myself, so well done on the capture; you seem to have the focus spot on, there's no obvious movement blur and you even got a catchlight in the eye.

Cheers,

[DavidM61]

Hello Dave

Thanks for that, appreciated. I'll have a go at removing the stick tomorrow when I have a bit more time, and if it comes out ok I'll post the result back on here.

[DavidM61]

I've had a go at removing the stick in PSE, and here's the result. Any better?