Male Prairie chicken inbound

[kevin Hice]

Taken last March in the Sd Grasslands. Chicken flying into the Lek. Added some canvas to the top and right side. Processed with Dpp 4,Photoshop,Topaz noise. Appreciate comments and critiques.
Canon 1DX 111
500 f/4 L IS
700mm
Av 7.1
1/4000
Iso 2500

[David Roach]

Love the killer BG, pose and SH where it needs to be. Wow, wing motion blur at 1/4000 (which I also love BTW). TFS

ps
Those tucked in feet and stacked tail feathers...

[annmpacheco]

well done Kevin, terrific capture, love the pastels in the BG and in your face this great prairie chicken enroute to the Lek! I like the tucked talons that we see a peek at... Almost head on, almost! well done.

[dankearl]

Looks good, beak sharp, nice incoming pose.. I would move it left..

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the wing position, sharpness, layered tail, BG and visible feet. Very well done Kevin.

[Brian Sump]

Kevin, nice work getting this capture. Not a super easy shot coming at you!

Absolutely love the color gradient in the bkg. Nice detail in the whites and good contrast.

In a perfect world it would have rotated slightly toward the sun for ya to get that other wing in focus but this is a nice frame as captured!

[Steve Kaluski]

A super image Kevin, killer backdrop, just know there is more you can extract from the raw, your best IMHO. :cheers:

TFS
Steve

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Kevin, good incoming pose with the outspread wings, and the flare of the primaries. Nice and sharp, and I really like the colours of the BG.

[Jonathan Ashton]

This image oozes quality - a real gem beautiful colours pose and detail, I have a slight reservation over the darker plumage, it does seem very dense in parts.

[John Mack]

Love everything about this one. Nice pose and light. The two toned background is anoter plus.

[Arthur Morris]

Killer image. Downright spectacular. Image quality is superb and so is the sharpness. From a blind? Did you use audio?

It took me ten seconds to move the bird left in the frame (using techniques from APTATS I & II (https://birdsasart-shop.com/aptats-1-2-cds-bundle/)) and then another minute to lighten the shadowed area of the plumage.

with love, artie

[kevin Hice]

Yes Artie I thought about lightening the shadow area. I do use a blind. No need to call as I am on the lek . They are on the lek about twenty four hours a day especially in April and May.I have tried using a call when on a Sharptail lek just to see if any response. They show no reaction.

[Kurt Bowman]

Very nice frame Kevin! I love the incoming pose, the slight wing blur and the killer BG. I agree about the slight move left and really dig the repost from Artie. Great job!

[Daniel Cadieux]

Excellent! The comp in Artie's repost is exactly what I was hoping for when viewing the image. Superb tuff Kevin!

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Kevin .... brilliant work !!!
Perfect field work .

Can only echo Steve's thought about pulling out more from the raw . I personally think the blacks are masking potential details , just my 2 cents .

TFS Andreas

[Steve Kaluski]

Artie, always nice to see a RP, especially when it takes the image another step forward.

FWIW this was what I had sent to Kevin as a thought yesterday, forget the variation in BKG, it's just teasing out more, even from the OP. It's a real stunner, which cracking detail for sure, love the hint of claw just poking out.