Crested Coua are spectacularly beautiful birds from Madagascar. In this case it was from the Toledo Zoo’s bird house. It fails a little as a pencil drawing because you miss the spectacular purples, pale blues and aqua colors around the eyes. This bird has a perfectly thought out palette. Eventually I’ll do a watercolor to show that.
Getting bird photos at zoos is fun. I tend to use a zoom lens with a 100-400mm range and always bring along a flash with a Fresnel attachment in case I need to add some light. Extension tubes can be handy if specimens are too close to focus on otherwise. Some zoos are friendlier to photographers than others.
Shooting pictures through glass always leaves a lot to be desired. Often, I don’t even bother if the glass is dirty, thick or at too much of an angle. Wires, bars and fences are a pain as well but can sometimes be worked around. If you are close enough to thin wires, you can often focus right through them with a low f-stop, and they barely show up. The best-case scenario are flight rooms where you walk into the “cage” so there are no obstacles to shoot through. On the down side, sometimes the birds anoint you with some guano. I think that’s a small price to pay for some good photos to paint from. I suppose that’s one of many reasons zoos don’t place visitors in a large flight room with herons. Having 12 ounces of intestinally processed fish-pulp blasted in your face wouldn’t be so great.
One drawback of zoos is that the specimens aren’t always ideal in plumage or behavior. Sometimes the animals are old, beaks and toenails need trimming or feathers may be damaged from confined quarters. Sometimes behaviors are “off.” Diet can influence coloration, while backgrounds and vegetation don’t always match the animals’ natural environment. I typically use multiple photos as references for each of my paintings in order to get the information right. I also research what plants are typical for each bird. Blowing backgrounds out of focus often helps. One can’t be an expert on everything, but getting the general look and feel is important.
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