Eastern Meadowlark

[Bill Dix]

These sweet-singing birds of the grassland are a challenge. They'll pop up from their hiding place in the grass, fly at breakneck speed and dive back down into hiding again. At least in our local grassland, they never seem to perch and sing their gorgeous sweet song within reach of my lens. After many tries, I managed to catch this one in flight, although even at 1/2500th I think a little more SS could have helped.

D500, 500f4 + 1.4 TC, ISO 2000, 1/2500s @ f/6.3 manual.

[annmpacheco]

You nailed this beauty Bill, congrats, IQ loos fine and love the bokeh, well done. They have such a lovely sweet song...

[David Salem]

Wow Bill!! Great capture of a real hard bird to get in flight. The wing position, flight angle and open beak are perfect and that Bg is just killer.
I think the SS was fine, it looks pretty sharp to me, but it just looks like it's underexposed a little. I just selectively worked on the head and neck. The eye is a little lost so I brightened up the eye and face, darkened the pupil and added a catchlight just above the pupil. I also selectively sharpened the face a bit more after the eye work was done.
The changes are fairly minor but I think it gave this sweet frame a bit more life. Hope you like the changes

[gail bisson]

WOW! Well done Bill to catch this speedster!!
Great wing position.
I agree that a bit more SS would have helped as the head is sharp but not "tack-sharp". I think Dave's selective sharpening of the head has helped.
I am IMPRESSED that you got this frame.
Gail

[Alex Becker]

Very impressive to pull of this shot and to get a solid wing position to boot. I agree a tad more SS would help the head. David's repost brings it up a notch to me especially with the eye work. Nice background. Congrats and TFS

[Bill Dix]

Thank you all for the comments. In particular, Thank You David, for taking the time for a few tweaks. They really do add some life to the bird. I've gone back and tried to replicate them, and it does make for a stronger image.