Pheasant on the wing

[kiwi.azza]

Hi all.

Took a few pics of Pheasants today after my dog flushed them. Only problem is that in the forests we walk in the Pheasants fly fast and low...the ones today being squeakers, they are the same colour as the background.

Any tips on how to accentuate the birds in the photo.

http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p172/kiwi_azza/two_pheasants.jpg

On this pic I have blurred the background but the bird still doesn't stand out.
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p172/kiwi_azza/Pheasant_blur_man.jpg

[Tom Reichner]

Hello, kiwi!

It's great to see that someone else is photographing pheasants. They're an exceptionally difficult bird to photograph well, especially in flight.

I'm not sure if the hen in this image will stand out well with normally applied editing techniques. It is simply too much like the background. I'm sure that some photoshop guru could manipulate this image so that the bird would stand out better, but that would require major, major editing. So much so that you wouldn't really be able to honestly call it a true-to-life nature shot.

Why not go back out there and spend a few mornings attempting to get more images? If you learn to work these birds properly, you will eventually be able to position yourself so that the bird flushes out in front of a background you like. Then you won't need to process the images so much to get great results. Even with low flushing birds, you'll eventually be able to get what you're after.

I hope you have alot of time in the field with these gorgeous birds!

- Tom

PS: A friend and I were just out this morning photographing pheasants. We had three roosters come in near the blind; two of which we were able to get good images of.

[kiwi.azza]

Hi Tom

Thanks for the advice. At them moment I am warming the dog up to the Game Bird season (my main priority until end August) so am often behind the dog when he flushes the birds.
I intend on setting up a blind sometime soon to get some ground pics and may try getting my wife to work her dog behind me, pushing the birds toward me, to get some "on the wing" shots.

Cheers

[chauncey]

That's a very difficult target as the auto focus needs contrast to lock onto and that bird doesn't present much contrast.
Might be better to use a longer depth of field and blur the background in post production.