Plate-billed Mountain Toucan

Here’s a Plate-billed Mountain Toucan from Mindo, Ecuador. This is cropped just minimally to do a bit of rotation. I rotated the camera to vertical and recomposed to make sure I got the full reflection in. Bananas are placed in the moss near the reflecting pool to attract the birds.

What technical feedback would you like if any?

What artistic feedback would you like if any?

Pertinent technical details or techniques:

(If backgrounds have been removed, etc. please be honest with your techniques to help others learn)
Canon 5D4 500F4 1/500 F5.6, iso 1250, Gitzo Tripod, Wimberley Head.

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1 Like

Oh wow, Nate, this is absolutely a superb shot. No nits from me. He is a beautiful bird, the lighting is wonderful too. The many colors in the bird is just a treat to the eyes. Then to add to all of this, a perfect composition, allowing the mirror affect. I don’t see how it can get any better than this. :+1: :+1:

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Hi Nate
This the first time I have seen a Plate-billed Mountain Toucan, vary nice. The detail, coloring and reflection are spot on. I think it would have been nice to have a little more space on the right hand frame.
Peter

An excellent example of an image with a lot of color and no oversaturation. Beautiful bird. Nice diagonals in the composition. The exceedingly smooth water in the pond helps create a wonderful reflection. Yes it’s a tight crop but with the pond I’m assuming there was no other alternative.

Hi Nate. Beautiful bird, with great feather detail and colors. The pose and reflection are perfect. I agree you need a little more room on the right. As-is, it looks like there isnt quit enough room for the bird’s tail. Also, in an ideal world, there wouldn’t be a bright-ish tree in the BG, and the rim of the pool would be covered with moss. Last, it looks like there might be a couple of processing artifacts in the background (those black spots in the upper right portion of the frame)? Looking forward to more.

Incredible image Nate! What a perfect reflection. The head turn is just right and the soft lighting really pops the colors. Not that this image needs anything but if you could clone out the blackish gray stuff that is going into the birds shoulder I think it would have a positive affect on the image. Also, if you have a little more room on the left side it might not feel quite so tight. SWEET image Nate!!!

Beautiful. The colors, pose, reflection, setting all work for me.

Technically a great shot, I would expect no less from you :wink: … for me personally a bit tight in the frame. And what an amazing bird by the way ! I would be scared when I saw one :slight_smile: … All in all a fine shot, Nate. Cheers, Hans

Ditto what everyone else said.
There are those that think photography is NOT art. They must not have seen this shot. Well done !

Thanks for your comments everyone. I don’t have anymore space, the limitations of photographing with a fixed lens from a blind. When I arrived at the location I knew I should have brought my zoom as well. I don’t think there are any processing artifacts, I didn’t do any cloning. The owner of the site had hung a black tarp in the background to try and keep bright light sky from filtering all through the background, so while the background isn’t perfect I think it’s better than having a lot of white sky in it.