A Parrot's Feathers
Mar, 2014Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
I took this photo in Berry Islands, Bahamas after a video shoot. The house that we were staying at had a pet parrot that they looked after and at that time they let it out of its cage to roam freely around the yard for a while.Time
The time of day was around mid to late afternoon.Lighting
Natural lighting was used to capture this shot. Since the sun was about to set in a few hours, the lighting it gave off wasn't too harsh. The palm trees that the parrot was sitting under helped add some dimension to the lighting.Equipment
This was shot with a Sony A57 with a 55-200mm f/4.5 lens. No other equipment was used. I wanted the long lens so as to not have to get too close to him. I wanted him to be as relaxed as possible.Inspiration
What inspired me to take this photo was just walking outside and seeing Fruit-Loop (the parrot's name) just sitting on a wooden rod taking in the fresh air. The colors of his feathers radiating. Thats when I thought it would be a perfect time to take a photo. So I went back inside, got my camera, and came back out to take this picture. It was an opportunity that I couldn't resist.Editing
There wasn't a ton of processing done with this photograph. I mostly just brought down the contrast, altered the tonal curves and increased the saturation of the specific colors ever so slightly to achieve the look I wanted.In my camera bag
I usually bring along my camera (of course) along with my 3 lenses. I pack a set of polarisers every time because I never know what the situation may hold for me. I also bring along a good amount of SD cards to switch out along with my macbook pro to ingest any footage or photos that I got on the go.Feedback
The only rule in taking a picture like this is to be patient. Parrots are jus like other creatures that want to move around and explore the environment, so they will more than likely not care that you want to get a shot of them. It probably took 20-30 mins fore to just get a couple of shots of this parrot due to his moving around, but I am very satisfied with the results.
