FP20 Backlit Peacock Display, Lake Solano, CA

Some of my most memorable photographs are featured in this section, along with photography tips and the story behind the making of each photograph. I hope these images inspire you to go out and experience your own memorable moments.

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Featured Photo 20

Peacock Display, Lake Solano Park, CA

Canon Rebel XTi
Canon 100-400 mm lens
Canon 550EX Flash

This is my first Featured Photo taken with a digital SLR. Canon's Rebel XTi, with its attractive combination of resolution, affordability, and dust-management system, finally pushed me into the digital age.

On a recent visit to Palo Alto Baylands I met two avid birders - John and Larry - who told me about the feral peafowl of Lake Solano Park near Winters, CA. Photos of displaying peacocks are quite common, but since I didn't have a single image of this bird, I thought it would be a good opportunity to get some practice with the XTi.

The peafowl in this park are feral and free-roaming, but are very habituated to people, so most of my images - such as the one shown here - were taken with the 100-400 mm zoom. To capture the full spread of the display feathers I even had to switch to the 17-40 mm lens. You can see more images of these peacocks in the California Birds Gallery.

The displaying birds stayed in the shade most of the time so I added fill-flash to brighten the colors. When one bird stepped out into sunlight for a few moments I positioned myself for backlighting through its display feathers, to see what it would look like. Most of these shots were OK, but not outstanding. However, for a brief moment, the bird "rattled" its feathers as part of its display routine. The rapid back-and-forth movement of the outer feathers, combined with backlighting, resulted in the swirling, fiery streaks that added abstraction and uniqueness to the image.

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