Galahs

Another image from that Australian trip so long ago. These birds hang out in pairs, but are also fairly gregarious. If I recall correctly this was at the site of an old mission and there were a number of these in the trees, but this was the only pair I could find a half-way clear angle on. This is also only one of two shots in a fairly large series where the front bird had it’s eye open.

Specific Feedback Requested

Processing this image now did allow me to do something about an ugly out of focus tree trunk that crossed the lower left corner. Seven years ago I would have had to try straight cloning, but content aware gave me a pretty good start with just some clean-up and blending required. Cropping around it would have made the image much too tight.

Technical Details

Is this a composite: No
See above for manipulation. 5DIII, EF300 f/4L + 1.4 TC, hand held, f/8, 1/1000, iso800, aperture priority, no compensation. Processed in the current LR & PS CC. In addition to the background, I did some feather enhancement with Topaz Detail and burning and dodging to accent the birds.

You got some different looking birds Dennis. I can’t quite tell if there are three birds there or not. Good job getting both eyes in focus. And good job finding some out in the open. Well done.

I had never heard of this bird, Dennis. I had to Google it. I see two, for sure. Nice job of shooting through the clutter.

Very unusual birds Dennis, so thanks for sharing them with us. Nice environmental portrait too and not often you catch of pair of anything together like that. Pleasing rose with gray colors and plenty of details too; their beaks are really different. Like your composition slightly to the right with the birds facing uphill on that limb. In fact, the tree limbs provide a nice frame for the pair. Galah doesn’t seem like an appropriate title for such a beautiful bird.

Hi @Jim_Lockhart . I suspect this might be one of the few Australian birds where the native name was retained, though I don’t know for sure. (A quick search yielded this: “The word galah comes from Yuwaalaraay and related Aboriginal languages of northern New South Wales. In early records it is variously spelt as galar, gillar, gulah, etc.”).