Sandhill Cranes at Sunrise

[Miguel Palaviccini]

This is one of my favorite images of the cranes. It's straight out of the camera, except for the crop (top and bottom only). If I remember correctly, I made my initial meter reading a certain distance from the sun and adjusted until I got what I liked. Then it was a waiting game. I positioned myself so that I could get the shot of them flying toward the sun and waited for a this shot. I got a quite a few more but I really liked the direct line that they made in this one.

I have tried darkening the silhouettes a little, but it looked unnatural to me.

Nikon d300s | 70-200 VRII + 2.0x
400mm | 1/1250" | f/8.0 | ISO 200
Manual exposure mode | handheld
WB set to 7200 K (between cloudy and shade) for the warm feel.

Comments, critiques, and suggestions are appreciated and welcomed.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Miguel, firstly, love the graduation of colour from the sun back towards the last crane. Yes, to the straight line of flight from all five cranes, and I agree that creating a silhouette on the cranes would look unnatural, but if you darkened them to the same as the back crane would maybe work. Good choice of crop, only way to go. :w3

[Jack Breakfast]

I agree with Stuart above: gradually darkening the front four...certainly not to point of silhouette, but darker than they are now? What a lovely shot! Great birds, great sun, great colors!

[Karl Egressy]

Excellent shot, Miguel. It reminds me to Bosque, New Mexico.
I was wondering if the sun could go a bit darker.

[gail bisson]

Very unusual image.
I love the gradation of bright to dark.
Good wing position on all the birds. If I were to nitpick I would wish I could see the primary tips in bird #4.
I agree that I would decrease to brightness of the sun a bit,
Gail

[Bill Dix]

Beautiful color gradation, and pano crop. Great line of birds. It would be interesting to see what effect darkening the front four would have -- sounds like worth trying.

[jack williamson]

I like it just like it is. Awesome color, well done.

Jack

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Nice composition, no overlap, great colors....separation between the birds is also good.

I agree with others that you can do some experimenting with reducing the flare effect. You have a very fine base image here.

[Alan Murphy]

Love the graduated BG and the cranes. Wish it was mine.

[Sanjeevprakash]

Miguel,This is beautiful.I like it as is.Great shot.

[Arthur Morris]

Nicely done. Love the pano approach. Birds #1, 2, and 5 have good wing positions; 3 & 4 are pretty much pancakes which are good for breakfast if you are not a diabetic but not so good for BIF.

[Satish Ranadive]

Miguel,
Every thing has been said about this excellent image.Love it.

Regards,
Satish.

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Thanks for all of the comments.

Carl, Gail - not sure I can do much about the brightness of the sun. It's blown out. If I try to make it darker, won't it just turn grey? Suggestions?

Stuart, Jack, Bill, Kaustubh - I'm going to try darkening the cranes just a tad to see how it comes out. I was thinking of making a selection, feathering it 1-2 px and trying a curves adjustment layer. Then possibly using a layer mask with a gradient from right to left so that the effect isn't even (as I'm not sure that it should be).

Alan - thanks for the compliment!

Arthur - I'm not a fan of pancakes, and I'm not diabetic. :)

[Arthur Morris]

Miguel. This is a super-difficult situation and there is not a lot that you can do processing wise. If your original capture had been properly exposed for the sun then the sky would have been black..... Voila, no birds then.

[Shawn Zierman]

Evocative, and certainly one of the nicer images I've seen of this type when the sun is included.
There is an appealing graphic quality to the image and a sweet transition in the oranges from the
sun to the end of the frame on the right hand side. Useage is something to consider here....
If you printed this big, I wonder if the sun would not become overwhelming....viewed at this size,
I think it's OK.

[Peter Seidel]

The wait paid off - this is really a special image. I don't know if I'd darken some of the cranes as others have suggested. I think I would bring down the sun brightness just a bit.

Pete

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Pretty cool shot and I too love the graduation. For me the light is just a tad bright and I would be tempted to tone down a little by the sun. Great plan and execution.

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Lots of info and good advise here. I like the crop you made here. Birds are forming a nice line and I agree that darkening them would look unnatural but I would give it try anyways.

[Miguel Palaviccini]

I tried darkening the sun area a bit via the suggestions, but it looked unnatural for my taste. I did however selectively darken the cranes using a levels adj layer. Below is the results. Thanks again for all of the advice!