Little Cormorant

[Paramvir Singh]

There is this amazing wetland in Karmali, Goa, which is rich with wild birds. This is the Little Cormorant.

[Mrudul Godbole]

Nice pose and head turn. As it is looking towards the left, some more space on the left and less on the right would have been good. Nice clean background. Wish the light was from behind you. Please post the EXIF details of Aperture, ISO and shutter speed. Thanks for sharing.

[Paramvir Singh]

Thanks Mrudul, but on an average, I never like light behind me. It makes the subject flatly lit, like a typical TV Soap. The angle of the sun could have been a little, just a little, towards me. It would have been better if the cormorant were sitting the opposite way and looking into the sun. But alas! :)

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Sidelighting brings out the form better. It can be creatively used as well, for eg in silhouette. However in bird photography the negative impact of sidelighting is that it results in shade on the face and we miss out on details and textures. Frontal lighting in bird photography brings out the details in the head much better than any other lighting.

As opposed to bird photography, for humans sidelighting is much more preferred than the frontal for portraits. In a portrait we don't want the blemishes in the face to be clearly visible. So soft filters as well as use of a scrim infront of the lens are some of the methods to soften the face. The sidelighting is preferred. Often a kicker light is used to get some definition on the side of the face and make the person stand out from the background.

[Roopak Gangadharan]

Hi paramvir,

This is a non breeding Indian cormorant (Phalacrocorax fuscicollis ). features distinguishing Indian and Little cormorant wud be

Indian: Bluish Green eyes, Yellow at the lower base of the bill (not as prominent nor covering the entire gular pouch as in Greater cormorant), slightly longer thinner bill

Little : Black eyes, white at the base of bill ( no yellow), A flat forehead and Short and thicker bill .

Rgds
Roopak

[Paramvir Singh]

Nice, Roopak! I have lots to learn in identifying birds...