Hornbill

This image I got really lucky! Not all pictures are edited to become great - sometimes in the bush it creates something special such as this image. This is one of my favourite bird photos I have taken to date.

This Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill was in mating display trying to attract a mate and there just happened to be a sun on the other side to complement the image! It was not possible to get on the other side in order to get the Hornbill in the right light, so instead, I tried to create a silhouette which made it easier as I was shooting into the sun.

Equipment Used

Camera – Canon 7D MKii

Lens and focal length - Canon 100 - 400 MKii f4.5-5.6

Setting Used to Capture This Image

ISO 100 – Shooting into the sun is always going to give you the most amount of light.

Aperture f/5.6 – I chose a low f stop as I just wanted the bird in detail.

Shutter Speed - 1/1600 – I had a very high shutter speed which wasn't needed, but I was waiting for the flight and the opening of the wings and didn't want to risk not capturing it.

Editing Used on This Image

I dropped the shadows and blacks and increased the temperature which gave it a bit more yellow and orange.