Sandhill Crane colt jumping

[Arthur Morris]

This image was created on 14 OCT 2020 at Indian Lake Estates, FL. I used the handheld Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS lens (https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1485540-REG/sony_sel200600g_fe_200_600mm_f_5_6_6_3_g.html/BI/6633/KBID/7226/kw/SO200600G/DFF/d10-v2-t1-xSO200600G) (at 200mm) and the 61-MP monster, the Sony Alpha a7R IV Mirrorless digital camera body. (https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1494679-REG/sony_ilce7rm4_b_alpha_a7r_iv_mirrorless.html/BI/6633/KBID/7226/kw/SOA7R4/DFF/d10-v2-t1-xSOA7R4). ISO 1600. Exposure determined by Zebras with ISO on the rear wheel: 1/2000 sec. at f/6.3 in Manual mode. RawDigger showed this as a perfect exposure. AWB at 8:01am on an almost completely sunny morning. Center Zone AF-C was active at the moment of exposure and performed superbly.

To see the original -- I clipped the very tips of two primaries, this bird or its nest-mate as a tiny chick on 10 May, and the Mothers Day chick video in the blog post here (https://www.birdsasart-blog.com/2020/10/15/sandhill-crane-growth-and-development-hard-to-believe/).

As for the image, don't be shy; all comments are welcome and appreciated.

with love, artie

ps: Capture One conversion + wing tip repair and DeNoise

[annmpacheco]

Artie,
Knocked me off the chair, knocked my socks off, Whoaaaa!! Love this frame. Sharp, expressive, dynamic, and the light. Awesome!

[John Mack]

Nice light and pose. The strip at the bottom gives a nice anchor. Framing is right on.

[kevin Hice]

Artie really great capture. First thing I notice is the lovely wing position capturing that great light.Boy it fills the frame with those out streched wings. I do see some halo mostly around the primaries on the right wing stops after the primaries TFS

[gail bisson]

The wing spread is perfect. Bird is really nice and sharp.
I see some processing artifacts- big dust spot in the top of the frame and below the birds left foot just above the horizon line. Also see smudges between the first and second primary.
I would also clean up the 3 little spots on LH side of frame- perhaps they are bugs or more dust spots.
I feel like the color balance is off slightly- sky has a lot of cyan in it but perhaps that is what the light was like.
Finally I would do a bit of levels or adding blacks to the neutrals to give a bit more visual punch to the image.
This is a great frame and definitely worth a bit of TLC!
Gail

[David Roach]

Sweet, sweet light, details and pose. TFS

ps
Love the base...

[Arthur Morris]

Artie really great capture. First thing I notice is the lovely wing position capturing that great light.Boy it fills the frame with those out streched wings. I do see some halo mostly around the primaries on the right wing stops after the primaries TFS

Thanks, Kevin. Looking at the master file at 300% I see no evidence of any halos. I think that you are seeing motion blur as the bird whipped the primaries of that wing for flight control.

with love, a

[Arthur Morris]

The wing spread is perfect. Bird is really nice and sharp.
I see some processing artifacts- big dust spot in the top of the frame and below the birds left foot just above the horizon line. Also see smudges between the first and second primary.
I would also clean up the 3 little spots on LH side of frame- perhaps they are bugs or more dust spots.
I feel like the color balance is off slightly- sky has a lot of cyan in it but perhaps that is what the light was like.
Finally I would do a bit of levels or adding blacks to the neutrals to give a bit more visual punch to the image.
This is a great frame and definitely worth a bit of TLC!
Gail

Thanks Gail, Many thanks. Good on the dust spots. I get careless at times ... Looks like five little bugs. And some more dust spots. Good eyes. I was so concentrating on getting the primary tip perfect that I missed the smudges above where I aded canvas ...

I sort of like the sky but will admit that getting the BLUEs just right is a big challenge. I am not seeing any smudging between the right primaries, here at 400%. After doing all the clean-up I worked on the color a bit and more as suggested. How would you darken just the sky in this one?

I will post the new version in the next pane.

with love, artie

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks again Gail for helping me clean this mess up :)

with love, a

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Hi Artie spectacular pose and composition, love the inclusion of the ground and the light is just right. The RP is better in terms of clean up. Solid image!

[Daniel Cadieux]

Sweet pose and light!! I think Kevin was referring to the wings to our right - those tips are sharp and also have a bit of halos around them. Anyhow, high-impact image and I love the layering of feathers on the open wings.

[gail bisson]

Repost look great! And Dan is right re: wing on our right or birds' left wing. Sorry for the confusion.
Re: color of the sky and how I might get correct color balance and/or hue? There are many ways to skin a cat such as color balance, using blue luminance slider in LR by decreasing luminance , trying blue hue slider in LR, using cooling filter on sky only in PS.
Another trick is to use the one of the 3 eyedroppers in the levels pop-up panel. There is an eyedropper for whites, blacks and grays. Sometimes that works when nothing else will.
Gail

[Brian Sump]

Artie, really nice landing frame here. I actually drove through a flock of Sandhills this weekend in Eastern Colorado and it was my first sighting. I think they were heading south to Bosque.

The light seems wonderful and the thin strip of landing pad at bottom worked well from my seat. It still feels like playing with WB and tonal balance could help but would take it in repost also.

FWIW, it appears to be a line going across the frame below the feet and above the ground. Perhaps a cloning mark?

Look forward to seeing ya soon...