Ara Macao Photo | TrekEarth

Photographer’s Note

This is my fifth picture out of the Zoo Planckendael Belgium.
You can see a Parrot: Ara Macao
It is about 32 to 36 inches long, of which more than half is the pointed, graduated tail typical of macaws. Average weight is about a 2 to 2.5 pounds. The plumage is mostly scarlet, but the rump and tail-covert feathers are light blue, the greater upperwing coverts are yellow, the upper sides of the flight feathers of the wings are dark blue as are the ends of the tail feathers, and the undersides of the wing and tail flight feathers are dark red with metallic gold iridescence. There is bare white skin around the eye and from there to the bill. The upper mandible is pale horn in color and the lower is dark. Sexes are alike; the only difference between ages is that young birds have dark eyes, and adults have light yellow eyes.

This picture I have cropped to a better composition, also this picture is with a telelens taken.

I hope you like it.

Shooting Date/Time
5/04/2005 12:41:59
Shooting Mode
Aperture-Priority AE
Tv( Shutter Speed )
1/125
Av( Aperture Value )
4.5
Metering Mode
Evaluative
Exposure Compensation
0
ISO Speed
100
Lens
55.0 - 200.0mm
Focal Length
100.0mm
Image Size
3072x2048

weswang, nwoehnl, jpdeloof, Galmeida, ChrisJ, cam, singuanti, Tue, kent_s, orme, pierrefonds has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

carper (64638) 2005-05-07 2:21

Ja Zoo foto's, daar weet ik wel wat van,
Wel John, de ara is schitterend genomen, goed in pov. Wat hier echter hindert is the dof, deze trekt alle aandacht en hindert het goede van de ara foto. Ik hoop dat U begrijpt wat ik hier mee bedoel, laat het me anders even weten.
gr. Jaap

bantonbuju (48556) 2005-05-07 3:22

hi john, nice, vibrant colours of the bird;
i like the dof, precise, selecting the parrot from the background perfectly;
have a nice day, jerzy

Gdouble (5245) 2005-05-07 3:31

Fantastische papegaai John, Hij lijkt als uitgeknipt uit de achtergrond. Zeer mooie foto.
Is deze foto echt op 5 april getrokken ? Dat zou toeval zijn want ik was ook in Plankendael op die dag. Ik zal ook enkele prentjes publiceren alhoewel ze kwa kwaliteit niet met de jouwe te vergeleiken zijn.
Guy

apache (1426) 2005-05-07 3:35

Hi John,
Nice shot of a beautiful bird. I Kerala we call this the "panchavarna kili", where "pancha" in malayalam means "five", "varnam" means colours and "kili" means bird. I see that you have caught all the five colours beautifully. Nice and sharp.
Ranjith

nwoehnl (118) 2005-05-07 4:20

Good entry in your zoo series, John. Amazing colors rendered in the Ara's beautiful plumage, and one more time the best use of DOF to isolate the main subject from the surroundings. Well captured.

jpdeloof (2546) 2005-05-07 4:29

bonjour John, un beau parleur avec des plumes bien colorées. Bon cadrage, les couleurs sont bien équilibrées. Une belle photo animalière.
JP
***
goedendag John, mooie parleur met zeer kleurrijke veren. Het goede afstellen, de kleuren worden goed in evenwicht gebracht.
Een mooie dierlijke foto. JP

Jean-Luc (5488) 2005-05-07 5:20

Bonjour John, Quelles flamboyantes couleurs qui ressortent bien sur ce fond légèrement flou.
Vous avez une belle collection de photos animalières pour notre plaisir.
Well done!

avigur_11 (21273) 2005-05-07 5:21

Colors are amazing, John, and sharpness as well. The bakground looks a bit un-naturl, the blur doesn't looks so real IMO.

Galmeida (12559) 2005-05-07 5:32

Good morning John,
In Portuguese Arara is the female of the Parrot, and here is Ara. Macao is in China and was a ancient Portuguese Territory. So this Arara is from Macao!?!
You have a nice serie of Zoo pictures. I like your capture, the vibrant colors and the close-up to this nice Parrot.

Excelent work and also different!
Have a nice week-end.
Fernando

hdl (6735) 2005-05-07 5:36

Je steekt wel veel variatie in je foto's ;-). Mooie compositie, maar de blurry achtergrond stoort mij toch ook een beetje. Jammer, voor de rest een heel goed shot.

jmdaoudal (82) 2005-05-07 5:38

Bien sur ce sont de très belles couleurs, et cet Ara est à la hauteur de sa réputation grace à ta très belle composition.
Cadrage parfait. Un très beau Portait.
Jean Michel

cam (8880) 2005-05-07 10:54

Hello John.A rainbow of colors.Well done as usual,funny look of the blurred leaves,that makes the parrot comes out of the picture.
Charles

weswang (18223) 2005-05-07 11:24

Hi John, This is a colorful and beautiful creature. You have an excellent DOF showing this parrot with nice contrast and a great deal of details, clarity, and sharpness. The background is blurred to show the main subject. Although I don’t understand it, the expression of the parrot can be seen clearly. Well done.

lukie (0) 2005-05-07 12:08

Prachtige, haarscherpe foto, John... en dat met een telelens ! Ik hoop dat je die papegaai niet al te veel lelijke woorden geleerd hebt (grapje hoor).

vriendelijke groeten,

Luc.

danyy (68602) 2005-05-07 12:11

Bonjour John,
Coomen as-tu obtenu un tel effet en arrière plan, c'est très beau et otriginal, comme si cela vibrait.
L'oiseau an avant plan ressort comme en relief, ses couleurs sont magnifiques.
Splendide.
Daniel.

Schultzy (5428) 2005-05-07 13:25

Bonsoir John,
Superbe animal, les couleurs sont vraiment magnifiques. J'aurais tenté de "flouter" un peu plus l'arrière plan. Cela reste un superbe cliché !

singuanti (15240) 2005-05-07 15:30

Hi John. Beautiful parrot! Naturally the strong colors are amazing. I like the use of a small aperture to get a strong focus on the bird and to blur the background. Seems like the contrast is very high and I like it that way too. Wonderful shot John!

alvaraalto (5231) 2005-05-07 17:47

Hallo John,
Prachtige kleuren hebben die ara's. Je hebt ze extra mooi vastgelegd met deze uitstekende scherptediepte. Misschien jammer dat er een stukje van z'n staart is afgeknipt.
groet Rob

Tue (25608) 2005-05-07 17:48

Goeieavond John,
Prachtige foto met sterke kleuren! Werkelijk zeer goed hoe de papegaai in de foto zit. Hele goeie achtergrond ook!
Zeer mooi werk! :-D
Groeten,
Lars

kent_s (1911) 2005-05-07 18:05

Really a colorful little fellow you found there. The blue is shining wonderful in the sun. The parrot is superbly sharp.

As usual a perfect shot.

orme (6746) 2005-05-08 3:23

The colours of the parrot are really beautiful, John. I especially like the rich deep blue. Well framed. Interesting background effect. Well done.

maphoto (8076) 2005-05-08 22:02

Although the background is a little bit strange, the bird is very well presented with great colors, I'm not sure about the blur, I prefer it soft like we see usually, anyway a good result.

ChrisJ (70125) 2005-05-09 3:34

Hi John

Superb vibrant, colour, & good sharpness. Good use of a narrow dof. Well done!

deud (1841) 2005-05-10 4:43

Very colorful! Good composition.

Steft (5962) 2005-05-14 8:30

Prachtige kleuren, en mooie compositie omdat het beestje links is geplaats. Mooie lichtval ook. Goede foto!

devimeuxbe (55865) 2005-05-17 6:52

hI jOHN
Simple but excellent shot. Good composition and sharp. I like the regrad of the bird !
Well done
Bertrand

pierrefonds (26167) 2007-04-07 7:55

Hi John,

A nice photo of the Ara Macao parrot, the photo has a good composition, sharpness and nice colors. Have a nice day.

Pierre