Roseate Flight & repost

Gallery: AvianPosted August 21, 201183 views10 comments

Taken in June at J.N. Ding Darling. I've been to the Ding twice now and have never gotten any decent flight shots of Roseates. I was pleased with how this one turned out. It flew right over me, and even though I had the camera tripod mounted, I had to pick up the whole rig, and zoom back for this shot.

D300 w/Sigma 50-500mm @ 165mm
f/6.3
1/1600
iso 640
EC +0.3
Full Frame

Comments and Critique welcomed and appreciated.
Large version provided

Comments

10 comments

Comment posted by Ron Bielefeld on August 21, 2011 at 11:59 AM

A nice in flight Doug. I like the bird's position. It seems just a tad dark on my calibrated monitor. I might bring it up a bit if this were mine.

Registered on December 6, 2008, 360 Posts, 7132 Comments

Comment posted by Doug Gilham on August 21, 2011 at 12:15 PM

Thanks for the critique Ron, I brought the brightness up a bit in the repost by +15.

Registered on September 20, 2009, 77 Posts, 489 Comments

Comment posted by Buck Ward on August 21, 2011 at 1:02 PM

Hi Doug.

I live near Ding and have shot spoons in flight there many times. To get this one with 165mm must have been a real treat. It seems they usually fly away from you, or if you get one this close you catch an awkward wing position, or you clip a wing. Great job.

Your repost is a slight improvement. It looks like your light was a bit subdued. You may be able to add some punch with Curves.

Registered on December 8, 2003, 96 Posts, 1917 Comments

Comment posted by Kurt Bowman on August 21, 2011 at 1:22 PM

Agree'd with Ron's original comment and repost looks better to me. I might still pay with the blacks just a tiny bit more....but overall, excellent shot!

Registered on June 19, 2008, 1005 Posts, 8028 Comments

Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on August 21, 2011 at 1:44 PM

Re-post is great - fine flight shot. Nice wing position, good eye and detail.
Since we strive foir "as good as it can get " here,

lightening up the dark legs would improver this excellent flight shot even further.

Sandy

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

Comment posted by Doug Gilham on August 21, 2011 at 3:11 PM

Thanks for all the comments thus far. I played with the levels to try and lighten it more and bring more detail to the feet, hope I didn't overdo it.
Buck, you are right, it was a treat to get this shot after many, many clipped wings, bad wing position, etc, etc. The light this day was very subdued because of cloud cover, but the sun would peak through every so often, a nightmare and challenge for me. They were flying over the wildlife drive as the tide came in to get to the other side, so I had lots of opportunities, with this being the best shot IMO.

Registered on September 20, 2009, 77 Posts, 489 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Ditch on August 21, 2011 at 4:27 PM

The brightness increase helped - neat shot.

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

Comment posted by Bill Leggett on August 21, 2011 at 6:04 PM

Nice flight shot, Doug. Agree that it looks a bit dark.

Registered on July 21, 2004, 706 Posts, 3233 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Dudley on August 21, 2011 at 8:19 PM

Amazing that you got this fine shot by picking up your rig tripod mounted and then zooming back to do it. I'm truly impressed. I too think the brightening was an improvement. I have no issue with the dark legs. Well done Doug.

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

Comment posted by Carol Nichols on August 22, 2011 at 9:56 PM

Doug, I like the second photo the best. The third one looks a bit on the light side to me. The flight position that you caught is really stupendous and once you decide on the brightness level that you prefer, I'm sure it will make a wonderful print. I sure do wish I could capture a spoonbill in flight, but that's what keeps me going

Registered on November 7, 2007, 161 Posts, 1420 Comments