Inspiring and Supporting Photographers of Australian Birds
Southern Cassowary
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| Photographed by | Cheryl Ponter on Tue 30th May, 2023 and uploaded on Sun 25th Feb, 2024 . | ||||||||||||||||||
| Resolution | 1800x1440 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Viewed | 528 | ||||||||||||||||||
| ID | 61645 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Comment | This was my amazing encounter with a Southern Cassowary in the rainforest of Iron Range National Park. At our lonely campground I was photographing small birds in the gloom of a drizzly morning, when unexpectedly, a young cassowary emerged from the dense rainforest. It spotted me and with a curious and inquisitive look decided I needed further investigation. As he quickly approached, I began taking photos until I was fully zoomed out and could focus no longer. Lowering the camera, I was eye to eye with the huge bird. Yikes!....As our eyes were locked together I began slowly walking backwards about 10 paces to the safety of the caravan. I realised in my excitement I hadn't changed any camera settings and the slow shutter speed setting would probably produce soft and blurry images. As I was watching the bird wander through the campground, thinking I had missed my opportunity, a ray of sunshine broke through the canopy lighting up a patch of ground the cassowary was heading for. I grabbed my camera, thinking if it walked into the patch of light I could get a dark and moody portrait by underexposing for the bright bird. That was the second amazing thing to happen that morning. Wow, I began to think like a photographer. The third amazing thing was that cassowary walking right through the patch of light. This is definitely my best photo, and most exhilarating moment in 2023 capturing both an utterly amazing, rare animal and a moment of personal growth in my photographic journey. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Equipment | Canon R5 with 100-500mm zoom 1/400, f7.1, ISO 800, -2EV, 500mm The image was cropped and minor adjustments made in Lightroom. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Iron Range NP, Cape York, Queensland | ||||||||||||||||||
| Keywords | immature, non-breeding plumage/features | ||||||||||||||||||
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