BLUE GLIDER

[douglas hayes]

Well we mortgaged the house, borrowed against my SS, and turned in my life insurance-yes I bought a new lens. Canon 300mm II. Had used an older one in the past and loved the crisp and quick focus so I hope to capture even better flight shots. GBH is still a go to subject for availability and variety of plumage.


Canon EOS-1D Mark IV EF300mm f/2.8L IS II USM 1/4000 sec; f/5.0; ISO 400 -1/3 Aperture priority; Evaluative metering

[John Rowell]

Isn't it nice to know your sacrifice paid off? Beautiful detail and color in this GBH. Well placed in the frame, if the head had been turned a few degrees would have helped the overall image. Still, very nicely done. I think feather detail would pop a bit if you lightened it up a bit. Keep putting that lens to work, cost per frame drops quickly with use!

[Raybel Robles]

Haha great comment! That's how I feel. I too just bought my dream lens the Nikon 300mm f2.8 VRII, took me a time to make up my mind, but so far worth every penny.

For the image you capture a great pose by the bird. I rarely get to photograph the GBH with their neck stretch forward like this. I think the head seems to be a bit soft at least on this monitor. Others may confirm, maybe a bit of sharpening will do the trick.


Hope you enjoy your lens!


Ray

[Karl Egressy]

Excellent BIF image, the lens seems to be even better than the old one.
I used to have the old one up until last year and it was my best ever BIF lens.

[gail bisson]

Congrats on the new toy! Enjoy it!
You have a great wing position.
Good exposure and you didn't blow out the whites on the head , which is so easy to do.
I like this crop but could see a version with a bit more room on the RHS and bottom.
The tree in the BG is a bit prominent and I would blend/tone it down a bit.
Gail

[Grace Scalzo]

Congratulations on your new lens. I like the flying pose of the bird. Overall, I think this was processed with a heavy hand. I see oversaturation, a sharpening halo above the wings, and too much contrast. All easy to redo if you wish.

[Randall Farhy]

Congratulations on your new lens! Lighting and pose look pretty darn good, but I agree with Grace re: processing. The middle of the forward wing looks like it's the sharpest region, perhaps local sharps on the head might help. I'd also remove that unbroken stick on the foreground. Many more nice images to come I'm sure!

[Daniel Cadieux]

Wicked pose, and that front wing is quite spectacular in the full downward stretch. Beautiful habitat overall, I would just blend in the tree above the heron (but not eliminate) as per Gail's suggestion. I agree the face could use another round of sharpening for web presentation, but a very neat flight pose for sure....oh, and congrats on the new lens!!

[Diane Miller]

Great flight shot! I love the pose and sharpness!

I see a lot of blue in the heron that doesn't look right to me. Color is very flexible and much of it is maker's choice, but I'll toss out a variation just for thought. But I like the colors in your BG better -- think I should have desaturated yellows somewhat.

[douglas hayes]

Diane-each and every GBH colours are uniquely different, and then throw in the lighting factor and it is a blue and gray rainbow. My original shot is close to as is on the colours with just a 3 pt saturation. Thanks fr yer comments.