Curassows - Zoo Birds

[RandyRFJP]

Male Currassow - Brookfield Zoo, Brookfield IL; 2016-11-13




Female Currassow - Brookfield Zoo, Brookfield IL; 2016-11-13



As always, C&C is welcomed. I initially had the wrong capture date listed for these images, and I corrected it.

[madcrow]

Great colour, detail and very sharp. What a capture, one could not but like them.

[Shadowman]

Nice shots.

[RandyRFJP]

Great colour, detail and very sharp. What a capture, one could not but like them.

Thanks for your kind words, Maurice. This pair of birds was in an indoor, free-flight-area of the zoo. They were very inquisitive and let me get very close to them to take the photos. I wish all birds were such cooperative subjects.

[RandyRFJP]

Nice shots.

Thanks, John. I'm glad you liked the images.

[Wavelength]

These buddies look quite friendly...one can read from their eyes; they add to the list of new gen. hair style too, i suppose
Very nice pair of images

[IzzieK]

I just lost my comments! Anyway I got busy laughing at Nandy's comment about the hair styles...punky, huh?

What is not to like with these pictures -- they are sharp and awfully nicely processed, but man o man! They are ugly birdies!! They must have a good purpose as to why they were created ... I have to google them. They are fascinating creatures...

[Dave Humphries]

My, they are co-operative for those shutter speeds.
I checked the EXIF out of curiosity of the aperture used, considering the good separation from background (bg), but found it nothing special at f/6.3, but I guess you were very close (at 300mm on D7200) to blur the bg so nicely (unless done in PP?).

EXIF 1/15s (Male) or 1/30s (Female), ISO5000, f/6.3, 300mm (450mm FFE) Nikon D7200.

Well done, Dave

[RandyRFJP]

These buddies look quite friendly...one can read from their eyes; they add to the list of new gen. hair style too, i suppose
Very nice pair of images

I like their "hair style," too! It reminds me of curled ribbon that you sometimes see on gift boxes. Thanks, for viewing the photos and for your kind comments.

[RandyRFJP]

I just lost my comments! Anyway I busy laughing at Nandy's comment about the hair styles...punky, huh?

What is not to like with these pictures -- they are sharp and awfully nicely processed, but man o man! They are ugly birdies!! They must have a good purpose as to why they were created ... I have to google them. They are fascinating creatures...

Izzie, thanks for your comments. There is another set of these birds in another zoo building. It's a much smaller free-flight area than in the building where the posted shots were taken. The pair in the other building spend must of their time in trees, so the foliage makes getting decent photos of them very difficult.

[RandyRFJP]

My, they are co-operative for those shutter speeds.
I checked the EXIF out of curiosity of the aperture used, considering the good separation from background (bg), but found it nothing special at f/6.3, but I guess you were very close (at 300mm on D7200) to blur the bg so nicely (unless done in PP?).

EXIF 1/15s (Male) or 1/30s (Female), ISO5000, f/6.3, 300mm (450mm FFE) Nikon D7200.

Well done, Dave

Thanks Dave. There are many photography skills I lack, and the main one is post-processing skills. I believe I used the healing brush tool to remove some minor distraction in the top right (as viewed) quadrant of the photo of the male, and I did the same to a small bit of food that was adhering to the female's upper beak. Both photos were hand-held shots. All photos I take and post and taken with the only lens I have, a Nikkor 18-300 mm, f/3.5-6.3 zoom. I was very lucky in not getting subject blur at the shutter speeds I used.

[Craigie]

I really like #1, but in #2 the beak seems a bit soft.

[RandyRFJP]

I really like #1, but in #2 the beak seems a bit soft.

Thanks, Gary, for looking at the photos and commenting. I agree with you. The beak's focus becomes soft as we view it downwards along its curvature. My guess is that the focal plane of my camera wasn't exactly parallel with the entire profile of the bird. I think her head was slightly angled toward me. The tip of her beak, however, was blunt, rather than physically sharp and pointy like the male's beak.

[bnnrcn]

Hand held shots with those shutter speeds I can't believe my eyes, great shots Randy

[RandyRFJP]

Thanks, Binnur. Both birds are very tolerant of humans, coming within about a meter (about 3 ft) of the zoo visitors. They often seem to me to be as interested in their human visitors as we are interested in them. They are only skittish around unruly children who try to touch them or chase after them. I was lucky to get the shots at such slow shutter speeds, but I try to use good hand-holding technique, including pressing the camera firmly against my face when shooting. I never use "live view," for framing the photo, preferring to use the viewfinder. I only use the rear LCD to check the histogram.