Our camera club is having “virtual” field trips during the pandemic and the one just ending is “International Travel”. My only excursion in this direction since going digital was a trip to Australia in 2013, so I spent some time looking through that for images for the challenge. In the process, I found a number of images that I’d marked as being worthy of a second look that I’d never processed. This was one of them. There are a number of frogmouths in Australia, but location and general appearance would lead me to think this is the correct ID.
Specific Feedback Requested
I know the setting is incredibly busy, but that’s what these birds evolved for. Is it too busy? I did a fair amount of work to make the bird pop a bit more-did I go too far?
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
Canon 7D, EF300 f/4 L + 1.4 TC, I don’t recall whether I used a tripod or not, f/8, 1/800, iso 640, aperture priority, no compensation. Processed in LR & PS CC. Darkened background and lightened bird, also used Topaz Detail (not the AI version) on the bird. A couple of minor clones for bright sticks/leaves. Cropped to 3912x2724. Taken October 17th 2013 in a suburban neighborhood somewhere around Mossman, NE Queensland (we hired a birding guide and he took us to this location) in a suburban neighborhood.
Whoa, Dennis. I had to look for several minutes before I found the “frogmouth.” Reminded my of one of the puzzles where hidden objects are placed to be found. Clearly, I’ve never seen a bird like this before. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Hi Dennis! What an awesome find. It kind of reminds me of a Nightjar. It’s very camouflaged but that adds to the photo. It looks like it’s sitting on a nest? I don’t have any business talking about processing but I would be curious how it might look cropped to have the bird closer and more the subject… But as you know, I crop everything!
@Vanessa_Hill I like your crop, Vanessa. It’s a completely different take on the image and gets rid of a lot of messy background. I was thinking of it as more of a “where’s Waldo” image, but this certainly works well.
Frogmouths and Nightjars are the same genus, just different people giving them names.
Would fit a “camo” topic. Although Vanessa’s crop makes the bird easier to see, I much prefer your original. Apparently theses birds live in very “busy” places probably to make them much less visible. That’s precisely what your post demonstrates. Excellent image.
Fantastic species and I love the way in blends in with the surroundings ! I love the approach to include quite some habitat - well documented ! Cheers, Hans
Wow. I really thought this was a reptile until I saw the tail. Very neat looking bird and very well camouflaged. The larger crop really shows off the camo ability of the bird. Thks for posting.
