Red-Billed Hornbill |
The Hornbills gave us a warm welcome to Kruger National Park. They are by no means rare, but so charming and interesting that we couldn't get enough of them! This photo shows one posing on a branch with the tree leaves behind creating a wonderful play with the light. Note how the light coming from the back shines through the beak, lighting it up.
What do I like about this photo? The lighting, obviously. Apart from the beak lighting up we have the outline of the Hornbill also shining, plus the beautiful bokeh (the technical term for the circles of blurred light created by them being out of focus). I used an open aperture to create a shallow depth of field, so the Hornbill is in focus, but the background is blurred out (creating the wonderful bokeh). The diagonal branch is also a very nice composition factor. The amount of details is pretty nice, too.
What would I want to improve? I would have liked to be a little closer, to get even more details on the Hornbill.