Guardian of the pass
Arthur's pass national park is my best memory from my New Zealand roadtrip. I've never seen a wild place like that where the birds welcome you in thei...
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Arthur's pass national park is my best memory from my New Zealand roadtrip. I've never seen a wild place like that where the birds welcome you in their outstanding and epic home. Kea have the sense of show and entertainment. They love to play and discover everything about humans. They study us like we study them. It was a great experience to walk in the mountains with them and watch them play at the café in the village.
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SONY ILCE-7SM2
Aperture f/4 ISO 2000 Shutter 1/8000 Focal Length 570/10 
Arthur Pass, Canterbury, NZ
Nov, 2018Views
763
Likes
Awards
Contest Finalist in Rule of Thirds Photo Contest vol5
Peer Award
Superb Composition
Top Choice
Absolute Masterpiece
Superior Skill
Magnificent Capture
Emotions
Impressed
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Top 20 rankTop 10 rank week 1
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Top 10 rank
Categories
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denisenewman
December 08, 2018
I have yet to meet our local jokester! Travelling down South next year to see for myself ;) Beautiful capture :)
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
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Behind The Lens
Location
I took this photo in Arthur's pass national park in New Zealand, at the viaduc lookout precisely. It is a great spot for Kea encounter. They love to meet travelers over there and the view is epic. It's like their house's door. You come and knock and they arrive to invite you in.Time
The viaduc lookout was my first stop when I arrived at Arthur's pass but my last stop too. I wanted to say bye to these magnificent and clever birds. It was my best wildlife encounter in New Zealand. I met so much of them up it the mountains and I couldn't leave without saying bye. This shot is the last one I did of this majestic bird. I wish he could see it, he looks so proud.Lighting
This is all natural light. I enhanced it a bit in post to magnifiy the bird though but light in Arthur's pass and New Zealand in general is often beautiful and dramatic. The cloudy weather was a blessing because the light is more diffuse and it allowed me to have a good exposure of the bird in the foreground without over exposing the background or vice versa. The clouds are adding some depth and texture to the shot in plus.Equipment
My equipment here was my Sony a7S II with a Canon 24-70mm f/4. I was trying to catch kea birds in flight so I didn't use tripod and I have chosen the 24-70mm because kea are very inquisitive birds coming close to people so I didn't need a telephoto lens. And having the vast and outstanding background in the shot was definitely the goal.Inspiration
First time I heard about kea birds was during my research about New Zealand before leaving France for the trip. I saw a documentary about the only alpine parrots in the world and I was amazed by the images of these beautiful birds flying around in these epic mountains. They became immediately my bucket list number one for wildlife photography. I love to see animals looking proud in their natural habiat and being magnified by it. It is for me some sort of ultimate nature shot when I can show an animal in his natural habitat and both the animal and landscape magnify each other. I am a filmmaker and movie lover first and I love iconic shots from Disney movies showing animals with incredible landscapes. Maybe I'm looking to reproduce something like that in real life even if it is impossible.Editing
I always do post processing. It is part of the photographic storytelling for me. In this particular shot I wanted to bring out the bird and mignify it through elements already present in the shot. Fortunately I had a spot of light above his head, coming frome the sky I could bring up to create this light spot catching the eye. The idea was to make the background glorify the bird, like if the landscape was showing me his inhabitant. I always shoot RAW so I processed the shot to reveal the clouds. I did some color grade and contrast work. And brought up the shades on the bird.In my camera bag
I have a Sony a7S II camera with a CANON 24-70mm f/4, a SAMYANG 14mm f/2.8, a CANON 75-300mm f/4-5.6 and a CANON 50mm f/1.8. I also have a M42 adapter and an Helios 44-2 58mm f/2.8 lens made in USSR. And a Pola filter.Feedback
The key with animals is patience and opportunism. My advice would be to put your settings on "continuous shooting" mode and " silent shooting" mode if you can. And shoot as many shots as you can. Go meet animals in their natural habitat and look for a good background. This shot is not a good example because as I said Kea are very iquisitive and curious so you don't have to be far or hidden to get go d shots. You can almost ask them to stand where you want. For other spieces you will have to wait a lot more or even put some food at a specific spot to lure them and do that for several days. As wildlife photography is the most unpredictible one I would advise you to shoot RAW, so you will have more opportunities to correct your shots in post.
