Peacock - showing off

[Phil Coldrick]

Hi,

Saw this peacock showing his fantail and tried to capture the detail. Canon Powershot SX20is on full zoom but had to hand hold at 1/80th sec. No RAW with this camera so have simply used a little sharpening (via GIMP) and cropped.

Here is the original:

Here is my first attempt at enhancing it:

All feedback and suggestions welcomed!

Cheers,
Phil

[Phil Coldrick]

Sorry about the lack of images - I can't get the links to work.

Hopefully someone can tell me what I'm doing wrong....

[Crovean]

Here you go man.
Quick tip, (Chrome Browser) right click on the image and select "copy image url" and that should do the trick for the image URLs.

Original


PP

[Phil Coldrick]

Hi Chriss,

Thanks both for fixing it and also for the tip. I'll try that next time.

[Shadowman]

Very nice. Would it be safe to say you were shooting through a cage and couldn't get the entire plume in the shot?

[ScoutR]

Very nice Phil. I like the composition and angle of the close up. It really shows him off nicely. Personally I like this just the way it is. It is very natural looking and not overdone in PP. Perhaps a little more contrast.... just a little though. Great shot.

Wendy

[Phil Coldrick]

Thanks for your comments. Shadowman: these birds were running wild around an old Elizabethan House (Moseley Old Hall) where the young King Charles II hid after his defeat at the Battle of Worcester in 1651. Now a National Trust Property. I do have some of shots of the entire plumage which I also like but particularly wanted to capture the beauty of the feathers. I don't think the full view is as good.

A little boost to the contrast would help - thanks for that tip Wendy. I find it difficult to judge because my laptop screen just has to be angled a bit and the contrast appears to increase. How do you know when it is right, can you use a graph in GIMP or some other tool?

[Shadowman]

Phil,

Both compositions are great, the two close ups and the final one posted above, I just thought that the close crop was due to shooting conditions.

Thanks for your comments. Shadowman: these birds were running wild around an old Elizabethan House (Moseley Old Hall) where the young King Charles II hid after his defeat at the Battle of Worcester in 1651. Now a National Trust Property. I do have some of shots of the entire plumage which I also like but particularly wanted to capture the beauty of the feathers. I don't think the full view is as good.

A little boost to the contrast would help - thanks for that tip Wendy. I find it difficult to judge because my laptop screen just has to be angled a bit and the contrast appears to increase. How do you know when it is right, can you use a graph in GIMP or some other tool?