Double Trouble

[gail bisson]

These Gambel's quails were photographed at Bosque last November.
I did not post until now because I had to take my horticulture and branch pruning degree to make this a presentable image- it was a crappy perch.
I rarely clone this much but I like the duo pose.
Canon 1 DX 600mm and 1.4x
F 9 SS 1/640 ISO 1000
A creative crop to minize perch
I will post original to keep myself honest with this pic!
Comments and critiques always appreciated and learned from with thanks,
Gail

[Jonathan Ashton]

Very nice indeed Gail, I have some reservation over the black cheeks and crest, I have done a very quick adjustment to the blacks - WDYT, better results would be made at raw stage.

[dankearl]

Even at f9 this is pretty impressive that you got both so sharp..
Nice work on the cloning as well. Excellent subjects.

[annmpacheco]

Fancy processing footwork, impressed! Wonderful opportunity we had with both and not much we could do about the perch. I actually like the positioning here despite some overlap, the HA's work well. Nice sharpness for the pair.

[John Mack]

I like that the birds are looking in opposite directions. Killer background. Details look very good as well.

[Isaac Grant]

This is very nice Gail. I love your photos. Always have and I imagine I always will. Both birds look really good and have great head angles. Nice job with the landscaping. I agree that the blacks are a bit dark. I would maybe run some detail extractor on them or do a curves adjustment. Might bring up the exposure a bit on the whole image while I was at it.

[Alex Becker]

Really cool scene Gail. Very nice work on the perch clean up. Agree with trying to get some detail out of the black necks. Minor tweak for a really unique shot. TFS

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

Such Beautiful Image. I was looking to photograph them during my last trip but could not find them at all.

I only saw them at the feeders from the visitor center.

Like the way you processed the image.

TFS

[Jim Crosswell]

Excellent image Gail. I like the poses, IQ, details, composition and pruning work.

[gail bisson]

Very nice indeed Gail, I have some reservation over the black cheeks and crest, I have done a very quick adjustment to the blacks - WDYT, better results would be made at raw stage.
I like what you did. I will tweek my RAW as suggested. Thanks!

[Jack Backs]

Very nice image. like all the edits. Uniform background makes horticulture a little easier.

[Bill Dix]

Beautiful image of a species I've yet to photograph. Love the two birds looking in opposite directions while still maintaining eye contact (and focus). Nice photoshoppery, too.

[Arthur Morris]

A nice photo with an excellent clean-up job. Were these birds attracted with seed or audio? In my 23 years or so at Bosque I never had a single good chance to photograph them but for the ones that came to seed near the pay booth..

with love, artie

[gail bisson]

A nice photo with an excellent clean-up job. Were these birds attracted with seed or audio? In my 23 years or so at Bosque I never had a single good chance to photograph them but for the ones that came to seed near the pay booth..

with love, artie
Hi Artie,
Welcome back! These were not called nor enticed with seed. We found them on this perch by the visitors center.
Gail