Another Hoopie Deux Spoonbill

[Phil Ertel]

This image was captured this April while on the Hoopie Deux with James Shadle. For this late afternoon/early evening session we remained on the boat. This was the first time I had photographed from a boat so the motion (not much) took some getting use to (I have several images with clipped wings, feet, etc.:o). Here is one image where I managed to get the bird in frame. An out of focus branch in the lower left was removed.

Thanks for taking the time to look and special thanks for any critiques/comments.

Regards,

Phil


Image Specifications:
Camera: Canon 50D
Setting:
Manual Mode
f-Stop: 5.6
Shutter speed: 1/1600
ISO: 800
Lens: 500mm IS USM f4.0 plus 1.4x
Tripod: Gitzo GT3540LS with Mongoose 3.5; 4th generation
Flash: not used

[Marina Scarr]

Hi Phil: What great action you have captured here. I think I would de-saturate the red channel on the BG. Love the perch, the pose, the wingspread, angle and the twig is a huge plus. Thank you for sharing.

[Dave Phillips]

a beauty Phil....you had a great trip on the HD.
Not sure about any desat, but I would definitely blur the bg a bit more.

nice catch, showing some beautiful light

[Maxis Gamez]

I don't mind the BG. The reds looks fine in my calibrated monitor. However, looks over-sharpened IMO.

[Stu Bowie]

Great timing, and love the landing posture. The exposure on the spoonbill looks great, the detail is there. The BG looks fine to me, but I find the bill looks oversharpened.

[Phil Ertel]

Thanks guys for the comments; much appreciated. Now that you have mentioned it, it does appear that I pushed the sharpening a bit too much. I'll go back and try again with a little less of a heavy hand.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the light, pose, nesting material and also the BG. This is one of the cases where a busy BG adds to the image. I agree regarding less sharpening, when you look at the upper edge of the near wing you can see that it looks jagged.