Snail Kite with extracted snail meat

[Arthur Morris]

This image was created on 3 May 2021 at a lake near my home in central Florida while on a flats boat. I used the hand held Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens (https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1485539-REG/sony_sel600f40gm_fe_600mm_f_4_gm.html/BI/6633/KBID/7226/kw/SO6004GM/DFF/d10-v2-t1-xSO6004GM)with the Sony FE 1.4x Teleconverter (https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1222777-REG/sony_sel14tc_fe_1_4x_teleconverter.html/BI/6633/KBID/7226/kw/SOTC14/DFF/d10-v2-t1-xSOTC14) and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless digital camera (while standing –double gasp!). (https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1619483-REG/sony_ilce_1_b_alpha_a1_mirrorless_digital.html/BI/6633/KBID/7226/kw/SOA1B/DFF/d10-v2-t1-xSOA1B) ISO 2000. Exposure determined via Zebras with ISO on the rear dial: 1/1600 sec. at f/5.6 (wide open) in Manual mode. AWB at 7:18:39am on a clear morning. Center Zone/AF-C was active at the moment of exposure and performed perfectly.

Learn more about the creation of this image and see a wider version made by a friend 90 seconds before in the blog post here. (http://www.birdsasart-blog.com/2021/05/05/tall-shorter-and-snail-meat-two-ways/) Along with a nice photo of me and my very tall friend Clemens Van der Werf.

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

with love, arite

ps: hand holding at 840mm is not something that I do regularly, especially from a rocking boat.

[Jonathan Ashton]

I like the head and the snail..... have some reservations over the second tarsal on the right foot, has there been some monkeying around? I ask because the there is a soft outline and then a hard outline.

[John Mack]

Detail is killer. Love the red eye. I like the framing. Nice light as well. Great view of the snail.

[Arthur Morris]

I like the head and the snail..... have some reservations over the second tarsal on the right foot, has there been some monkeying around? I ask because the there is a soft outline and then a hard outline.

Thanks, Jon. The screen capture here shows the original toes. I am not seeing any great differences in the original post and the screen cap. IAC, you and many others here have much better eyes than I do :)

with love, artie

ps: the right foot is well beyond the plane of sharp focus.

[gail bisson]

Hi Artie,
I too see what Jonathan is seeing. It looks like you used a hard brush when cloning around the toe so the edge loos super sharp compared to the original.
I like the snail partially extruded from the shell and that glorious red eye.Great light.
My biggest bugaboo is the crop.
It feels awkward to my eye. Not sure what you were working with in the OP but I would like to see a 4 x 6 horizontal that includes the entire bird.
Gail

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Gail, I love front-end verticals just like this. At 840mm, I was not fitting the bird in the frame. See Clemens' image on the blog.

with love, a

[dankearl]

I dont care about the feet, you did not say the crop but I guess you were close because the DOF is the problem for me.
I shoot wide open at f5.6 on 500pf, it has a lot DOF than this unless you were right in top?

[arash_hazeghi]

love the close up and the view of the snail. the detail on the snail is phenomenal and trade mark of the A1.

when cloning I'd feather the brush and also feather the edges of the mask to avoid the "cut-and-paste" outline look

TFS

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Gail, Jon, and Arash. I went back to the original and with the feet magnified, can see the ugly sharp edges. As Arash suggested, I need to improve the crude selection techniques that I used to protect the toes.

with love, artie

[Arthur Morris]

I dont care about the feet, you did not say the crop but I guess you were close because the DOF is the problem for me.
I shoot wide open at f5.6 on 500pf, it has a lot DOF than this unless you were right in top?

This is the full frame image. I was maybe 20 feet rom the bird as it landed right in front of us. With the eye so sharp, and the snail meat too, I could care less about depth-of-field. In addition, with me struggling to hand hold at 840mm I did not want to give away any shutter speed or use a higher ISO.

Assuming that you meant "a lot more depth of field." (rather than what you wrote above), there are several factors involved including these:

1- With the size of the bird in the frame being constant, a crop body like the D500 will always offer more d-o-f than a full frame body as you were farther from the subject. The greater the distance to the subject, the more the d-o-f at a given aperture.

2- If you were using a D850 with your 500 PF and made an image at f/5.6 with the subject the same size in the frame, the d-o-f would be identical. Note that you would have had to be a whole lot closer to the subject at 500mm to get the bird the same size in the frame as I did with 840mm.

with love, artie

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

Very nice frame. With the Snail.

How about cropping the image eliminating the perch completely?

TFS

[Arthur Morris]

Very nice frame. With the Snail.

How about cropping the image eliminating the perch completely?

TFS

With the a1 files that is a good suggestion.

with love, artie