Story of the Image
During the pandemic i was invited by one of the oldest amazon lodges in Ecuador to scout their forest in search of some extremely difficult rainforest species and i gladly accepted.
Location and Species
The Amazon rainforest in Ecuador is one of the most impenetrable locations for bird photography and yet we have found ways to photograph the most elusive of rainforest birds in their natural habitat. Sacha lodge is one of the well known lodges in the ecuadorian amazon and to reach there i had to take a 3 hour boat ride.
Gear/ Preparing the Scene
To photograph this species I climbed a 110 feet high watchtower in the middle of the rainforest. This was to get eye level with the top of a fruiting ceiba tree which is where these birds visit in the mornings to feed.
Composing The Shot
Cotingas, in general, are a unique family of birds. Getting them at eye level is extremely rare. To be honest, I did not have a composition in mind. All I wanted was to frame the bird looking at me with its entirity in focus.
Perfecting in Post-Processing
Initial camera raw edits:
Step 1:
I added more brightness and contrast to the overall image to bring out the vibrance of the bird and the overall habitat.
The next step was to crop the image in the format I liked giving enough space around the bird and at the same time avoiding the leaves from the trees around– vertical.
The next step was to clone the branch below the bird out of the image using the clone stamp tool.
The last step was a layer of color balance.
Next, I resized the image at 1800 pixels on the long side and now it was ready for sharpening.
The next step was to save in the right profile and save the image.
For web prints I use sRGB while for prints I use Adobe RGB
The final step is to save it as a JPEG at the highest resolution as shown below:
About the Bird
The Plum-Throated Cotinga thrives in the humid tropical and subtropical lowland forests and swamps of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. The male bird is sky-blue coat all over with a purple throat and light-colored eyes, while the female bird has a grey-brown upper body with dusty specks and warm brown underbelly with dusky spots. They can be spotted from a canopy tower or bluff on a clear day perched on the forest canopy or at the periphery of a forest clearing. They mostly have fruit, seeds and insects and one can spot them foraging with parrots.
