Nice n' Clean (Streptopelia decaocto)

Taking a bath (Streptopelia  decaocto, Family: Columbidae; common name: Collared  dove)

It was a rainy Sunday morning which meant that my plans for one more shooting session at the zoo were completely ruined. I decided to read the newspaper in the balcony with my camera sitting next to me (as usually). A dove landed on the wires and I stopped reading, waiting to see how the bird would react to the falling rain. After 3 minutes it decided that this was a very good opportunity to take a bath. I was nicely surprised so I started shooting. I was sure that I would need high shutter speeds since, although the bird seemed motionless at first, it continuously changed the shape of its wings and tail. I used the lens wide open (I decided not to change the ISO settings to ensure maximum image quality) and used the flash for fill in in half the shots (using the function button of the camera which is programmed to disable the flash when pressed). When the rain stopped, there was a bit more light so I decided to close the lens down to f/5.6. I took about 100 photos of the event and selected four of them, each showing a different stage of the bath. Washing its right wing, then the left wing, dry and - finally - ready to go. It turned out this was a good day for shooting after all!!  

Photos by George J. Reclos

Shooting Data:

Camera: Nikon D2X

Photo 1:
Lens: Tamron SP AF 180mm f/3.5 Di Macro 1:1
Sensitivity: ISO100
Shutter speed - aperture: 1/640sec - f/3.5, AP mode
Flash: None
Image: JPEG processed in Photoshop CS, levels, unsharp mask filter and resized.

Photo 2:
Lens: Tamron SP AF 180mm f/3.5 Di Macro 1:1
Sensitivity: ISO100
Shutter speed - aperture: 1/750sec - f/3.5, AP mode
Flash: SB800, TTL-BL-FP mode
Image: JPEG processed in Photoshop CS, levels, unsharp mask filter and resized.

Photo 3:
Lens: Tamron SP AF 180mm f/3.5 Di Macro 1:1
Sensitivity: ISO100
Shutter speed - aperture: 1/500sec - f/5.6, AP mode
Flash: None
Image: JPEG processed in Photoshop CS, levels, unsharp mask filter and resized.

Photo 4:
Lens: Tamron SP AF 180mm f/3.5 Di Macro 1:1
Sensitivity: ISO100
Shutter speed - aperture: 1/500sec - f/5.6, AP mode
Flash: SB800, TTL-BL-FP mode
Image: JPEG processed in Photoshop CS, levels, unsharp mask filter and resized.  

Streptopelia  decaocto (Collared  dove)

Those birds are very common indeed so you must take a very special photo if your aim is to present a worthy image. This bird was just cleaning its plumage and I was watching its moves through the lens. After making sure which would be its next move, I pressed the shutter release button in continuous mode. Three pictures were taken in one second and I chose this one which shows the bird looking like a piece of sculpture, full of curves.

Photo by George J. Reclos

Shooting Data:

Camera: Nikon D2X  
Lens: Nikkor ED 500mm f/4 P
Sensitivity: ISO 100
Shutter speed - aperture: 1/1250 sec, f/4 Aperture priority mode
Flash: SB-800 in i-TTL mode
Image: JPEG edited in Photoshop CS2, levels adjusted, smart sharpening added and resized.