Marbled godwit

[arash_hazeghi]

Godwit in flight, from SF bay last year


shot with my D5 and 600E FL + TC14-E III ISO 500 f/5.6 at 1/4000sec hand held and processed with C1P

[Aditya Sridhar]

Excellent shot, Arash. Techs look just about perfect to me. Great wing position and detail. I actually like the specular highlights on the bill - one can rarely find a completely dry Godwit :D

As a side note, I'd love to know your thoughts on the AF-tracking sensitivity settings on Nikon bodies. Do they make a difference in locking focus on erratic subjects such as shorebirds?

[Randy Stout]

Arash:

Excellent frame, great pose with fine detail, like the subtle speckling showing on the wing feathers, the balance of the black bill with the black feet, sharpness, and the bg with excellent color and enough soft detail to add some depth.

Cheers

Randy

[Bill Dix]

Superb in all respects. Some might wish for a head turn, but for me this is just about perfect.

[arash_hazeghi]

Superb in all respects. Some might wish for a head turn, but for me this is just about perfect.

this is a profile flight shot where the bird is parallel to the back of the camera

thanks Bill

[arash_hazeghi]

Excellent shot, Arash. Techs look just about perfect to me. Great wing position and detail. I actually like the specular highlights on the bill - one can rarely find a completely dry Godwit :D

As a side note, I'd love to know your thoughts on the AF-tracking sensitivity settings on Nikon bodies. Do they make a difference in locking focus on erratic subjects such as shorebirds?

no Aditya with grp AF close subject overrides that setting so it’s not very important

[Aditya Sridhar]

no Aditya with grp AF close subject overrides that setting so it’s not very important

Awesome. Thanks for the info, Arash!

[Ivan Sjogren]

Absolutely superb capture Arash!

Lovely light, perfect background and a dynamic flight pose. Also up to your usual high IQ and nice details.

I think a small head tilt would have been nice in a perfect world but it doesn't bother me.

[arash_hazeghi]

Absolutely superb capture Arash!

Lovely light, perfect background and a dynamic flight pose. Also up to your usual high IQ and nice details.

I think a small head tilt would have been nice in a perfect world but it doesn't bother me.

thanks Ivan I have many frames with the bird angled towards the camera but this is a profile shot i.e. perfectly square to the back of the camera so I would say the world was perfect here actually and that's how I wanted it :)

[John Mack]

Looks great all around. The bird is dead parallel to the camera here. Killer blue background.

[Dorian Anderson]

Excellent close view of a SF Bay staple! You're walking the same head-tilt line as my tern shot, but I think both still work. I'd ideally like to see a touch of the far wing as it would add depth to the image, but what you've presented here is
technically flawless and a very attractive frame.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Pretty much perfect, with nothing to add on my part. Rather spectacular really.

[gail bisson]

Really nice Arash.
I love the wing extension.Tack sharp, beautiful light.
I too,would like a bit more of a head tilt our way even though you are presenting this as an image that is parallel to the sensor,
Gail

[arash_hazeghi]

Excellent close view of a SF Bay staple! You're walking the same head-tilt line as my tern shot, but I think both still work. I'd ideally like to see a touch of the far wing as it would add depth to the image, but what you've presented here is
technically flawless and a very attractive frame.

Hi Dorian a touch of a far wing would not work well in this case, if anything it would be distracting and I'd clone it out (had some that actually had a bit of the far wing visible). the reason is that it will be partial and too small to show any of the inside wing details will just take away from the "clean" profile

Cheers

[Alex Becker]

Looks killer. I love the pose, BG, and detail. I'd love to get some shore bird in flight frames like this. TFS

[Andreas Liedmann]

Nice one !

TFS Andreas