Bathing Black-Necked Stilt

[Melissa Groo]

Canon 1D Mark IV
500mm +1.4TC
Skimmer pod

ISO 640
f/5.6
1/8000 sec

Took this in Florida a couple months ago, in Fort Myers. Was out late one afternoon photographing with some friends including Marina Scarr and Bob Blanchard. I got some classic stilt shots but also liked this one as something different. Just now really starting to go through all my stilt images.
I was lying flat in a very mucky area using my skimmer pod.
Crop, whites recovery, sharpening, and NR.
Thanks so much in advance for all comments/critiques.

[dankearl]

You are on a roll, Melissa, cool water and very sharp.
A bit of a head turn would be a bit nicer, but a nice action photo.
A bit noisy on and around the wings for iso640, a large crop?

[Melissa Groo]

Thanks Dan. Yes to the pretty big crop question. I would say it's about a 40-50% crop. I did NR only on the BG only, forgot to do the wings. Here's a repost with some NR on the bird as well. Does that look better?

[Randy Stout]

Melissa:

Despite the noise, I prefer the crispness of the original.

Excellent pose, exposure, colors. I would consider a minor crop from the top.

I would have considered trading shutter speed for lower ISO. Rare to need 1/8000s, even when flying! I assume you are shooting manual exposure? :S3:

Cheers

Randy

[dankearl]

The repost looks very nice, usually NR applied to the bird results in a poor image for me.
You did a great rescue job, I don't see any loss of detail and a more attractive image for me.

[Randy Stout]

Dan:

I pushed a lot of TriX to ASA 1600, so for me, the grain in the original is acceptable to maintain the sharpness. :bg3:

Cheers

Randy

[Rachel Hollander]

Melissa - nice light and sharpness. The slight amount of noise in the OP doesn't bother me at this web size. I agree with the suggestion of a slight crop from the top.

TFS,
Rachel

[Maya Raut]

Hi Melissa, Excellent light, exposure and sharpness considering the large crop. HA is fine for me as it is parallel for the sensor and stilt is in action. I might consider cropping slightly from top to get the bird little higher in the frame, but I am sure you don't want to crop it any further :S3:

Looking forward to see more of your stilt images.

- Maya

[christopher galeski]

nice image,sharp and good detail,like the BG and the water coming off the wings.thanks.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Great shot, I like the action and I find it difficult to chose between the two versions.

[Sanjeevprakash]

Lovely freeze of action here. Love the clay color BG too. Great capture Melissa

[Marina Scarr]

Love the behavior and action you captured here, Melissa. The second version definitely works best for me. I love the flying droplets of water. You did a good job recovering your whites, as I see a lot of details there. Your comp works well for me. I sure am sorry that I missed this one. Must have been off brooding after my 2x TC got soaked. :)

[Melissa Groo]

Haha, I think that's exactly where you were, Marina!
Thanks to all for the helpful suggestions and nice comments.

[arash_hazeghi]

excellent image Melissa, love the dynamic,ic pose!

[Daniel Cadieux]

Yep, repost for me. I'm OK with the HA too. One thing I'd do is eliminate the extra catchlights in the pupil and I think I could go for less canvas above. All in all a wonderful image!

[Robert Holguin]

Wonderful shot. Teriffic pose, very nice soft light, and great background.
Well done.