First Post at BPN New Member

[Mark William]

Hello,
New to this and looking for ideas. This is my first attempt at a usable blur captured in camera. Was going for a light dreamy look with some discernible features of the crane. Settings and conditions:

Nikon D300
ISO 100
f/18
1/40th sec
Manual
Taken at Bosque del Apache 12/29/08 Iced pond and chilly.

[Judd Patterson]

Welcome Mark, it's a pleasure to have you here at BPN. I love the feel of this image with the golden light reflecting on the wings and underside of the crane. The blur in the water and wings looks just right to me. I tried to come up with an alternative crop suggestion...like maybe a bit of water off the top...but looking again I would hate to loose that nice pale wash of blue that anchors the top of the image. Nice experimentation with slow shutter speeds. Hope to see more of your images soon. Enjoy BPN!

[Doug Brown]

Hi Mark and welcome to BPN! The golden color in the wings is superb, as is the texture of the water. I might have gone for a slightly faster shutter speed with this intentional panning blur; I like to see the head sharp and the rest of the image blurred and the faster shutter speed would have helped. Of course what's most important in that regard is good panning technique. Let's get together and take some pictures one of these days. Look forward to more of your posts!

[Tony Whitehead]

Big welcome to BPN, Mark. Great first post. I love the BG and colour on the wings. Agree with Doug re the head sharpness. Practice (and a good helping of luck:)) is important on these pan-blurs and you are getting very close. Looking forward to more of your images.

[Mark William]

Thank you Judd and Doug, I will apply suggestions on the next opportunity.

[Mark William]

Tony what are you calling BG, sorry I'm new.

[Mark William]

Never mind It just came to me BG Back Ground.

[Juan Aragonés]

Wellcome on board Mark, I hope that you will enjoy your time in BPN as much as I do :-) I like your first post a lot and love that kind of experimentation with slow shutter speeds. The golden and light blue of the image are really nice and the image has a lot of motion feeling. I would prefer to see the head more sharp but the result is very interesting and artistic. Well done

Regarding the use of acronyms you should have a look at the following thread http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=12682. Fabs took the time to compile a lot of acronyms used in BPN.

Keep them coming