Tussling Red-crowned Cranes

[Arthur Morris]

These tussling Red-crowned Cranes were photographed during the Day 4 blizzard on the Japan in Winter IPT with the Gitzo 3532 LS carbon fiber tripod (https://store.birdsasart.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=20), the Mongoose M3.6 head (https://store.birdsasart.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=274), thethe Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens and the Canon EOS-1D X. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +2 stops off the white sky: 1/1000 sec. at f/4 in Manual mode. Color temperature: 7000K.

Central sensor/AI Servo/Surround Rear Focus AF just caught the black secondaries of the left hand bird’s left wing as framed was active at the moment of exposure. Click here (http://www.birdsasart-blog.com/2013/10/31/if-this-doesnt-get-the-point-across-nothing-will/) to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial.

In your opinion, are the clipped feet of the right hand bird fatal to the success of this image?

Don't be shy; all comments welcome.

[Ron E Racine]

A great dynamic action shot Arthur. Nice soft light and details are great. As for the clipped feet, I think it just holds the image back a little from being all it could be if the feet were included.

[Marina Scarr]

Killer action shot, and I just love the snow and the BG. Despite this, the clipped legs will keep it out of the top contests IMO.

[Karl Egressy]

Amazing action shot in a snow fall.

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Awesome action and the blizzard adds to the drama. Clipped legs don't kill the image for me, but full legs would've been quite spectacular I think.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Artie, the image conveys well the jousting/sparring interaction between the two subjects and the cropped legs are not an issue in this instance IMHO. However, I'm curious about the chosen DoF, f/4, would you not have wanted a bit more, and cranking up the ISO as we both know, would not be an issue?

TFS
Steve

[Arthur Morris]

Killer action shot, and I just love the snow and the BG. Despite this, the clipped legs will keep it out of the top contests IMO.
I suspect that you are correct but we will find out in a few months as I entered it in the BBC WPOTY.... I have often seen honored images that would be trashed here on BPN :)....

[Richard Flack]

Super cool image and action shot Arthur. Love the snow falling in the BG. Obviously it would be awesome to have the second birds legs in the image, but this is still brilliant. TFS

[Daniel Cadieux]

Awesome interaction with those face-to-face fighting poses. Love the snow falling, and the contrast is just right. As for the cut legs, they are OK in my books and not fatal to the success of the image...but I can just imagine how killer it would have been otherwise. A minor thing I would do is eliminate the larger snowflake almost touching the right bird's chin. Oh, I also love the faint hint of trees in the BG!

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Artie, the image conveys well the jousting/sparring interaction between the two subjects and the cropped legs are not an issue in this instance IMHO. However, I'm curious about the chosen DoF, f/4, would you not have wanted a bit more, and cranking up the ISO as we both know, would not be an issue? TFS Steve

f/5.6 at ISO 800 would have given me a bit more d-o-f; at f/4 at 100 feet, I had about 1 foot in front of and behind the point of focus--would have given me just 5 inches more in front and back. Not much really. Now I do not know the math while I am in the field, I just go by my gut feeling which for me in this case was right on.

[Arthur Morris]

Awesome interaction with those face-to-face fighting poses. Love the snow falling, and the contrast is just right. As for the cut legs, they are OK in my books and not fatal to the success of the image...but I can just imagine how killer it would have been otherwise. A minor thing I would do is eliminate the larger snowflake almost touching the right bird's chin. Oh, I also love the faint hint of trees in the BG!

Thanks Dan. I made this one from the TIF that I optimized for the BBC WPOTY competition; not sure if they would have considered that as the "minor clean-up" that was allowed for the first time ever this year. Coolest thing of all--our lodge is right behind those trees!

[Grace Scalzo]

Let's see if I can explain this. When I first looked at this, the cut legs bothered me. Now, when I do a browser scroll and bring the edge of your frame to the bottom of my screen and eliminate the white border (above the writing), I don't even see the issue. To me now, it's really a killer frame and I wish you good luck with it in BBC.