Fly Away

Super cool shot with a nice stack by those cranes. Was this as shot or a composite? Not questioning the validity of the image, but shots like this are often composites so it would be helpful if it were disclosed either way. Thanks.

Hi John,

a stunner excellent composition

I love the unique combination here, but think it could really use a crop from the left and perhaps a little from the top and bottom as well. You've got a great group of shapes... a tighter crop will help emphasize the pattern they create (IMO).

Max

Very cool John, warm light on the cranes with the half moon!

Great photo, the moon really adds to the interest of the frame. Nice capture of the cranes and the diagonal pattern of their flight.

Very nicely done, luck favors the prepared and you were definitely prepared!

Hey John, good to see a fellow Mayslake member on here. I was at JP a day earlier. I also tried to shot cranes with the moon, but they didn't cooperate;) A excellent capture indeed.

Thanks for all your comments and suggestions.

Jim, it nice to see you here too.

Excellent composition and beautiful light, John.

Beautiful light here, and a wonderful image.
Love the moon -

Sandy

Lovely comp John

cheers
Rob

Very nicely done, super cool !
Jagdeep Rajput

Nice trio of birds. Agree about the bonus of having the moon in the frame, however the one thing that doesn't add up is that the angle of light on the birds doesn't quite match that of the moon, esp. on the middle bird, with the shadow of the head cast downward against the right wing, suggesting the sun is behind you. Nice effort though.

Thanks, Bill. Yes the sun was behind us. The birds and moon were fairly high.

Superb image!

Very , very lovely image John. Nicely timed!

John,

The non-photographing public would find this to be a beautiful image but as this is a critique forum photographers often want to know how an image was created. You do not mention your techs for this shot and knowing them might benefit other members here, would you please post the aperture, shutter speed, ISO, any ev compensation that you used and the camera & lens would help too. Thanks for providing them.

As a photographer I would like to know what depth of field you used, I'm thinking at least f16?

The shadows below the birds suggest that the sun was not directly behind your back that it was to your right, right of the cranes. Strange.

Very cool John

Very cool shot John.
May

I agree this is a lovely image, well composed and in nice light. I have tried several times to get similar images (with different birds of course) but failed miserably. I would also really like to know how you did this (camera settings) so I can try again and achieve something as good as this. I also agree it would be helpful to know whether it is a composite - either way, it is an excellent picture.

I have tried many times myself to get a shot like this, including at Bosque, and have never been able to get this good a result. My closest was an eagle perched high with the moon behind it, and even at f/16 and using mirror lock up the moon was still quite blurry. It is a nice photo with a good comp and good detail in both the cranes and moon. Well done.

I agree with Mia & Ian that it would be nice to share your techs so we can all learn from this shot.