This exceptionally beautiful bird appeared in front of our photographic blind here in South Africa for only a minute or so. It is a violet-backed starling, and I was totally captivated by the intensity of its color. We stayed in the overnight blind until 8am, and this bird visited the pond to drink about an hour after first light. I had to shoot obliquely through the glass, and this degrades image quality somewhat. With post-processing options, though, like clarity and sharpness, I was able to address that issue. The inside of the blind is painted black to eliminate any possible reflections in the glass. I took this with a 500mm focal length, and the settings were 1/1250, f/7.1, and 3200 ISO. Some photo instructors teach that the ideal exposure model is to expose to the right of the histogram. In a situation like this, where the starling has white feathers, that would be a mistake because it would be too easy to blow out the vulnerable white areas in which texture and detail are lost. In other words, the white feathers would become solid white. And that would be the photographic kiss of death.
0 Comments