Hey, Look Here......

[David Roach]

As I crawl on my belly to these burrows, it always amazes me how acclimated these beauties become (as long as you stay low)! It is hard to get eye contact as they are paying more attention to other birds flying by. So, I've gotten used to pushing the shutter just to get them to turn my way, then firing again to catch the brief eye contact. This image created just before sunset at Brian Picollo park in Broward County, Fl. I was right on the late sun angle but wished for a more unifrom BG. I do like the OOF wildflowers in the FG though.
1DMKIIN 400DO ISO 400 F6.3@1/1600

[Terry Sohl]

Yours are much more tolerant than the ones on the prairie dog towns around here! I could crawl on my belly for days and never get this close to one...

Well done. Great stare, nice light, and the background is just fine by me. Only thing I'm not totally sold on is the OOF wildflowers blocking out the (virtual) feet.

[David Roach]

[quote=huskertsd;172165]Yours are much more tolerant than the ones on the prairie dog towns around here! I could crawl on my belly for days and never get this close to one...
quote]

Yes,since these beauties live in this county park (baseball, soccer, biking, skating all around) they are somewhat acclimated but still very diligent. As long as the burrows are on the fringes of the fields, they are roped off and thankfully they have thrived with their homosapien neighbors playing all around. They are drawn to the park by the large open fields leaving plenty of room to spot predators from a distance. As always, thanks for the comments!!

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the alert pose and eye contact and might sharpen the bird more. I wish the upper part of the BG were more even.

[Judd Patterson]

Nice pose, David, with those big yellow eyes staring right at us. I agree that a little more sharpening could help bring out detail. I like the flowers in the foreground, but in this case you might actually have been too low...a little higher angle and you'd bring back more of the feet and make that background distraction on the left side less apparent. Thanks for sharing, and I'll see you around!

[David Roach]

Thanks Axel and Judd for the suggestions. I find It is harder to sharpen a low resolution jpg for the web and don't like the over sharpened look I sometimes get. I find it much easier to sharpen at full resolution (without that over sharpened look). Is this just me? Any suggestions on sharpening low resolution jpgs?

[Art Kornienko]

Stunning shot with super light, as good as it gets, great colours and fastastic bokeh. The 400DO sure gets the job done.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Good suggestions above. Sharpening: here is an interesting thread you might want to look over

http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=18534

[Stu Bowie]

Amazing eye contact, and agree on needing a tad more sharpening on the body. Well captured David.

[David Roach]

Thanks Daniel, that was one awesome thread on sharpening images at different resolutions!!!!!!

[David Roach]

Here is a try at sharpening more. Again, it looks over sharpened to me. I never have this problem at full resolution. Again, the thread was very informative, Daniel!!!! Thanks to all!!!!!! ps... I also tried to tone down the upper BG with a slight burn. Haven't gotten into more advanced PP tecniques yet.