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Peafowl

Peafowl
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upload_dateApr, 2013

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7 Comments |
marcelfens
 
marcelfens May 07, 2013
Amazing shot!
sam58
 
sam58 June 23, 2013
excellent captur !
CoopPix
 
CoopPix June 24, 2013
Great timing on this shot!
HelenRea
 
HelenRea October 22, 2013
Nice capture willy! :)
pradeephiremath
 
pradeephiremath January 31, 2014
great work...
JestePhotography
 
JestePhotography February 01, 2014
Beautiful!
sherrysloan
 
sherrysloan January 07, 2019
Love it

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Behind The Lens

Location

This shot was taken at the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha Nebraska.

Time

I took the picture while the day was still young. I would say it was around 9:30 AM

Lighting

It was a very bright morning, so I went straight for a large patch of shade under a huge tree. This gave me more even lighting with few harsh shadows and less dynamic range to deal with. The one thing I had to contend with was patches of bright light here and there where the sun penetrated the tree branches.

Equipment

I shot this image using an old Nikon D90, and a Tamron 18-270 lens. Everything was shot hand held with no flash or reflectors of any kind.

Inspiration

Once I was under that big tree, I noticed that there were Peacocks running around everywhere. People would buy food at a small stand along the pathway to feed them so they had little or no fear of people. Instantly, I imagined getting a great shot of one of the males flourishing his tail feathers like the NBC Peacock, ya know. So I started stalking a good sized male hoping he would put on a show for me. But that never came to be. He seemed to be as interested in one of the hens as I was of him. I simply changed my plan to fit the situation getting down low to the ground far enough away from them that they were not nervous because I was there. I was still mostly interested in the male, so I framed him in my lens and just followed his movements. Then, suddenly he walked right up to the hen as you see in the photo. I quickly re-framed the scene to include them both and started shooting.

Editing

I did some light weight processing in Lightroom like bumping up the clarity and vibrancy a little.

In my camera bag

For camera bodies, I carry a Nikon D610 which has a full frame sensor, and an older Nikon D90 cropped sensor body. I usually put a Tamron 18-270mm lens on the D90 so as to take advantage of the extra 1.5 X "reach" I get out the the lens effectively making it a 27- 405mm lens. That is not a perfect solution for not being able to afford a 400mm lens, but I do not make a living with my camera so it works well for me. On the D610 I normally mount my Nilon 80mm f/2.8 prime lens that works very well for taking portraits. In addition, I carry a Nikon 50mm f/1.4 prime lens that does a great job of blowing out the background for me. Also, I pack two speedlight flash units. One is a Nikon SB-700, the other is made by Aultra. In addition to the flashes, I carry Pocket Wizards so I can fire them remotely as required. And last but not least I have a Sekonic L-758 DR light meter. The light meter simplifies the task of calculating an exposure when there is a very high dynamic range of lighting conditions in the scene.

Feedback

It is always a good thing to have an idea of what sort of image you want to create before the shoot begins. But when shooting wildlife, even in the zoo, stay on the balls of your feet and be prepared to adapt to the action as it unfolds in front of you. I love using prime lenses. But when your subject is moving around as in this situation, you really need a zoom lens so you can quickly re-frame the shot on the fly. Be patient, and flexible. The shot you have planned may not be the shot you get, it could be better!

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