Sandhill Trio

Gallery: AvianPosted February 26, 2011122 views11 comments

Upper Texas Coast. 2/20/2011

D3 ISO 400. 300/2.8 with 2x tc. f5.6 1/5000s -0.3ev. About 30% FF.

I didn't get to make my first trip to Bosque because it was 20 below and the lakes were frozen and no flights were coming in or out.

Fortunately some sandhills winter along the Texas Coast. I found 2 small flocks of about 30 each last weekend. They were a little farther away than I wanted-but at least they were there. The second crane's eye appeared to be missing ?? he is now wearing the first crane's eye. Another trailing crane was cloned out.

Comments

11 comments

Comment posted by Peter Cross on February 26, 2011 at 1:27 PM

I really like this one, Angela. You caught them just right and the image is very sharp. Nice that their wings are synchronized. Composition is nice with room for them to fly into. It might be just a little bit lower so the corner to corner diagonal run through the birds and gets them a bit out of being centered verticvally. Only other issue is that there appears to be a halo along the bottom of each bird. But all told, a great image. Please share more.

Peter

Registered on April 3, 2010, 271 Posts, 1342 Comments

Comment posted by Nancy Lea Sandy on February 26, 2011 at 2:03 PM

Lovely image. There's a certain grace and rhythm to your capture I find very appealling. As Peter pointed out, the image might benefit some if you moved them out of the center a bit. I like this one a lot. Nicely done

Registered on January 24, 2011, 576 Posts, 6942 Comments

Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on February 26, 2011 at 2:18 PM

Angela, Very nice symmetrical poses! Great catch, good detail, and complimentary BG.
I think the comp is fine, too. Sure glad you found some sandhills, despite being frozen out of Bosque - marvelous birds..
Sandy

Registered on November 24, 2003, 3937 Posts, 12909 Comments

Comment posted by dan elster on February 26, 2011 at 3:52 PM

Bummer about your trip.

The birds are well placed and line up nicely. If it were me, I'd have left the second birds lack of an eye. There are 1000's of great sandhill crane in flight shots out there, but this would be the first I know of where one of the birds was missing an eye. Injured birds are part of nature.

Cool shot.

Registered on September 23, 2005, 299 Posts, 2443 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Ditch on February 26, 2011 at 5:32 PM

The composition works as posted for me, and you'd certainly not want to crop any more than you've already done anyway. You should be able to avoid the slight halo visible in the larger version by first selecting the sky and inverting the selection before sharpening.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 1031 Posts, 12705 Comments

Comment posted by Gary Gulash on February 26, 2011 at 5:44 PM

Well done Angela. Excellent flight formation! Beautiful shades of blue in the background work well with the cranes.

Registered on January 28, 2005, 879 Posts, 12098 Comments

Comment posted by Mia McPherson on February 26, 2011 at 7:29 PM

Angela, I love the flight poses of the cranes, the wing positions and the soft blue sky. The comp works well for my tastes as there is enough room in front of the cranes for them to "fly" into. Rich D gave you some solid advice about the halos.

Sorry to hear the weather prevented you from going to Bosque.

Registered on June 25, 2007, 491 Posts, 12566 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Dudley on February 26, 2011 at 7:36 PM

This quite large crop still looks pretty good Angela. I like the wing positions and the sky color here. Sharpness looks good as does your composition. I'd have likely made a different decision about the repaired eye but I'm glad you disclosed what you did. Agree that the halo is apparent, especially where the darker parts of the birds meet the background.

Registered on March 30, 2007, 437 Posts, 10915 Comments

Comment posted by Michael Lotito on February 26, 2011 at 8:12 PM

Excellent image. The fact that you got all 3 birds in focus is great. If you did not tell I would have never known the fixes. Great work!

Registered on June 26, 2009, 181 Posts, 1558 Comments

Comment posted by Albert Darmo on February 26, 2011 at 9:40 PM

Hi Angela

You captured these three birds in flight beautifully! The wing positiuon and perfect sky, make this a fine capture