Grey Jungle Fowl

The Grey Jungle Fowls are a pretty common sight in the Nilgiri forests, however, getting them in good light and pose has always been a challenge. These wild chickens are pretty fast and will usually run into the bushes at the slightest sound or movement around them. Even when you do get them in the open, the angle of shooting is limited and getting a good background isn't always possible.

During the recent Bandipur trip, we had a few bold moments by some very unsuspecting characters. Firstly, we had quite a few mongoose sightings where the usually shy creatures were infact displaying a totally daredevil behavior. The jungle fowls too were very forthcoming and in one instance, while we were waiting on something else, we had a pair of Grey Jungle Fowls having a quick meal at a termite mound. The diffused light due to the cloudy weather presented a good opportunity to capture details of this male's plumage.

Tech Specs
Canon 1D Mark IV + Canon 600mm F4 L IS
Shot at 600mm, 1/640s, F4 and ISO 800

Changeable Hawk Eagle - A Hi-Key Portrait

While cloudy days present a challenge with the light, they also provide for opportunities to capture some brilliant details in an otherwise contrasty subject. The Changeable Hawk Eagle's brown plumage has shades of white on the under belly and it can get quite challenging to get the exposure right if there is bright light. On the other hand, a cloudy day really helps in keeping the highlights from blowing out and at the same time, can be used for some brilliant hi-key portraits like this one.

These raptors would usually perch high up on a bare tree which gives them a good vantage point and clear visibility too. Photographing them against the sky is a challenge if the sun is shining bright, but a cloudy sky can make a huge difference.

Make sure that you intentionally dial up the exposure on such hi-key images since otherwise the camera would want to bring down the whites into grays and the resulting image would have some loss on the shadow details due to underexposure.

Tech Specs:
Canon 1D Mark IV + Canon 600mm F4 L IS
Shot at 600mm, 1/1000s, F4 and ISO 800