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Inspiring and Supporting Photographers of Australian Birds

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Southern Emu-wren

Southern Emu-wren (Image ID 40718)
Photographed byNathan Watson on Mon 1st Jun, 2020 and uploaded on Sat 6th Jun, 2020 .
Resolution1492x1800
Viewed502
ID40718
CommentMy first sighting and image of this elusive but gorgeous little wren species. This male was quite bold, jumping up and down from perches among the paperbarks keeping watch over his females. It was a challenging habitat and this was the only window I got to get a clear shot of him. I've removed a tiny twig that was protruding over the lower part of his beak.

This image was shot between a fork of a paperbark tree, using the trunk and low-hanging branches to create the soft, oof foreground and frame the bird. To create the high-key surrounding and keep the bird perfectly exposed so it stood out among the habitat, I've executed the following post-processing workflow:

DPP4 - Increase exposure, gamma adjustment, shadow lift & sharpening. Saved file as a TIF.
Photoshop - Adjusted levels marginally, then custom curves adjustment to shadows to achieve the desired high-key effect, which meant the bird was overexposed. I've then used an inverted brush over the curves layer to bring back the original exposure of the bird. The bird was a bit dark in the original exposure so I've then used a Soft Light brush, white selection at 12% opacity, and brushed a single layer over the bird to achieve this result. I've then added some contrast, very minimal saturation for a subtle lift in colour, applied noise reduction, resized and sharpened.
EquipmentCanon EOS 1DX MKII, Canon EF 100-400mm F/4.5-5.6 L II, standing, handheld, manual exposure, F/6.3, 1/1250, ISO 1600 and post-processed using DPP4, Photoshop and Neat Image plug-in.
LocationKalgan River bank, Western Australia
Keywordsmale, adult, creative image
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