Sandhill Crane -'Tis the season for Bosque

[Filemon Lopez]

Subject: Sandhill Crane in Flight
Location: Bosque del Apache, San Antonio, NM

Camera: D300
Lens: 18-200mm @200mm

ISO 640 1/1000 @ f5.6

[Arthur Morris]

Nice light and wing position OK. Sharp. Good EXP. But, the bird is too high in the sky for you to be able to create an intimate image. I advise folks never to raise the lens more than about 20 degrees above the horizon (unless the bird is right over your head). Here you have done everything right yet the image is not at all special to me.

[Daniel Cadieux]

The techs look great, but the composition is very centered for an inflight type image. Try cropping top and right and see if you like it better. Did you do something to the sky...I see an odd blue spot where the wing meets the neeck??

[Tony Whitehead]

You've done well with lens not usually considered standard for this type of photography. I agree with Artie's advice on lens inclination and with this lens that gives you a very narrow range to work with as it's reach isn't very long. Light is nice and eye contact good. Agree with Dan that there is something funky happening along the leading edge of the far wing. I think his crop suggestion is good as it will decentre the bird.

[Filemon Lopez]

Thanks for feedback. Not sure what's going on with sky. Interesting thoughts about angle (makes sense) that I had not considered. Just happened to have short lens handy when crane came close by.

Best

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Filemon, YAW. Thanks to being open to my point of view on the matter.

ps: I missed that funky blue area... Just shows that when I say that I do not have a good eye for detail I am not making it up...

[Krijn Trimbos]

As a response to Artie's comment about the bird being to high in the sky I would like to raise a question not as critique but more from discussion point of view. Robert O' Toole just posted a sandhill crane shot where the crane was also relatively high in the sky. Why is that image considered intimate and this one not? Is it the pose, the open beak? Would be interesting to know what other people think.

Cheers,

Krijn

[Krijn Trimbos]

Regarding the photo I would probably crop a little of the right and a smidge of the top. Like the light, eye contact and wing position. Nice shot

[Arthur Morris]

As a response to Artie's comment about the bird being to high in the sky I would like to raise a question not as critique but more from discussion point of view. Robert O' Toole just posted a sandhill crane shot where the crane was also relatively high in the sky. Why is that image considered intimate and this one not? Is it the pose, the open beak? Would be interesting to know what other people think.
Cheers, Krijn

Hi Krijn, Are you referring to Robert's U-Turn image here: http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=25909

[Krijn Trimbos]

Hi Artie,

Yes that was the one I was referring to. I mean the angle of photography seems to be sort of the same, of course the pose is a lot different and the open beak is very cool as well. I was just wondering if that compensated for the steeper angle in your opinion or what your thoughts about these things were.

Thanks in advance,

Krijn

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Krijn, Here is what I wrote above: "But, the bird is too high in the sky for you to be able to create an intimate image. I advise folks never to raise the lens more than about 20 degrees above the horizon (unless the bird is right over your head)."

With Robert's image, the bird is almost "right overhead"; it was headed there, so the photographers, and wheeled. Robert captured the perfect pose. I should have qualified my original statement by adding "when they are creating images with the bird flying from side to side. No favoritism involved. The images are vastly different...