Vulture culture.

[James Shadle]

I had to get in on the Vulture action!
Black Vulture 1 hour after sunrise.
Tampa Bay Island, Florida

Nikon D700
Sigma 300-800mm @ 800mm
ISO 640 1/1250 SS @ F7.1
No Noise reduction, levels and USM.

Cropped to taste.
Notice the "poop" on the Vulture's legs and feet. Vultures defecate on their legs and feet as a way to cool off.
Doesn't look very cool to me.

James

[Krijn Trimbos]

Hi james,
What can I say apart from what an excellent shot! Love the symmetric pose of the wings. The headturn/eyecontact is great. Composition and sharpness are beautiful. A winner in my book, congrats!

[Lorant Voros]

A real good shot as an example for everyone. I like the composition, the symmetry, light and detail. Very nice post.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey James,
glad to see someone else likes the ugly birds. Tails spread is a hige plus IMO and just compliments the wing spread and the diagonal position....just a winner!

[Grady Weed]

I like the straight line across the top of the wings, the underside details, the exposure is "dead" on, although a touch lighter would be nice, just me maybe. As for the poop, I guess no white sauce on my spaghetti for me tonight!

[John Chardine]

Super James. I love the graphic pattern of the bird and it's wings. The only thing I would do is try to recover the highlights in the legs/feet.

[Ramon M. Casares]

Love it, love it, love it, great great GREAT pose, wonderfull light, terrific head angle, great detail and superb comp. Congratulaitons!

[Philip Pietri]

Interesting - that's how I cool off too!

Excellent photo. The details are unbelievable. The pose is sweet too. Thanks for sharing.

[Steve Maxson]

This is a very interesting pose, James, partly because it is so different from the usual soaring-on-high look that we see. Lots of positive comments above - and I agree with all of them! I was going to comment on the legs being so white, but after re-reading your description, I decided that wasn't necessary. :) (Vultures are my daughter's favorite birds.)

[Fabs Forns]

Nice wing spread and great EXP. Do you have Active D-light turned on?

[James Shadle]

Nice wing spread and great EXP. Do you have Active D-light turned on?

No.
I found Active D-Lighting slowed the camera down.
The results were not constant and I would need to tweak in post processing anyway.

On this image I used no Shadow/Highlight or post shutter Active D-Lighting.
Just great wing position in the correct direction, it happens once and a while.

Great question.

James

[Fabs Forns]

I find Actice D-light gave me a halo around the subject in sky images. Never used it again :eek:

[Arthur Morris]

Way to go Froggie. Ditto all of the above. The two best things for me are the amazing shaprness and the incridble detail and tones of the blacks. Will be home FRI afternoon and hope to Hoop it up soon.

[Paul Fusco]

Hey James -

Nice detail in the tones and great action pose!

- Paul

[bob arue]

Very cool shot!

[Bonnie Block]

OK--so what's to say but WOW!
Excellent work. Amazing details and wonderful exposures on the blacks. Unusual pose to boot.

[Chris van Rooyen]

Nice one, great pose, detail and sharpness - all has been said. I would darken the blue slightly and ditto on the highlights on the feet/legs.

[Juan Aragonés]

Superb job here James, timing is perfect and sharpness is to die for. Terrific light, action and eye contact. I agree about toning down a bit the BG. It seems that there is a litle bit of chromatic aberration that can be removed very easily in RAW conversion. Killer image!

[Roger Clark]

James.
Wow! Very nice. Makes vultures look great.

Roger