Glossy Ibis In Flight

[Amy Marques]

Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L on Canon 40D, Speedlite, Better Beamer
1/2500 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 400

Thanks for taking a peek. I hope everyone will like this angle better than my previous post. ;)

[Daniel Cadieux]

Nice dorsal view here, I just wish it wasn't flying slightly away. Good colours and sharp. Tough to expose a dark bird against a white BG. How much +EC did you dial in? In any case, although still pretty good, I think an additional 2/3 EC would have been perfect (I tried lightening the midtones with the "Levels" in PP and liked the results). The BB helped you a bit here :-)

[Harold Davis]

amy m, those colors are fantastic!!! love the high key. looks very asian. i know the bird was past you, but i dont think you would have gotten the colors anyway else. great job!!!!

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Great plumage details Amy. Love the sheen on the wings. Not ideal pose in frame, but still very pretty.Thanks for sharing. :)

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

A pretty bird indeed. Love the dorsal view and feather colors.

[Doug Rodda]

most interesting glossy image I've seen, How'd you get that BG while shooting from above!

[Amy Marques]

Nice dorsal view here, I just wish it wasn't flying slightly away. Good colours and sharp. Tough to expose a dark bird against a white BG. How much +EC did you dial in? In any case, although still pretty good, I think an additional 2/3 EC would have been perfect (I tried lightening the midtones with the "Levels" in PP and liked the results). The BB helped you a bit here :-)


Hi Daniel. I believe I had used all the EC available to me. I'll lighten the midtone a bit more- thanks for fiddling with it! Best, Amy

[Amy Marques]

Thank you all for the kind words! Though it has already flown past me a bit, this was the only decent shot of this bird. I am new to photography and panning these guys is certainly a fun challenge. ;)

[Amy Marques]

most interesting glossy image I've seen, How'd you get that BG while shooting from above!

Hi Doug. The ibis was banking slightly toward me. Glad you like it.

[Ramon M. Casares]

I agree with Daniel's suggestions. Nice though, the detail is very nice. Congratulations.

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Hi. I think you've done a good job. Getting exposure right on these birds is quite difficult, and I agree that the dorsal view, or any angle where you can see the feathers of the top of the wings is better than the typical flying toward you stuff.
I would do two things. Straighten the bird up, maybe a 10-15 degree clockwise rotation. I realize what we see is what angle the bird was flying, but the rotation makes more sense compositionally(IMO).
A tighter crop, from the top and bottom, would also help.
A one pixel black border would help as well. Pretty much mandatory in high key presentations so that the image doesn't get mixed up with the web page background. Just add 2 pixels to height and width in "canvas size" and make sure to pick black.
Great job! regards~Bill

[Daniel Cadieux]

Hi Daniel. I believe I had used all the EC available to me. I'll lighten the midtone a bit more- thanks for fiddling with it! Best, Amy

You are welcome Amy. I'm not sure which exposure mode you are using, but by switching to Manual for certain instances you will be able to over or underexpose by much more than the +/-2 EC that you are limited to with AV/TV modes. Useful for these tough high-key situations.

[Amy Marques]

You are welcome Amy. I'm not sure which exposure mode you are using, but by switching to Manual for certain instances you will be able to over or underexpose by much more than the +/-2 EC that you are limited to with AV/TV modes. Useful for these tough high-key situations.
Daniel, this was shot on manual and that is what I primarily use. I have used AV but discovered that it was not ideal for flight shots. Thanks again. I appreciate any advice I can get.

[Amy Marques]

Hi. I think you've done a good job. Getting exposure right on these birds is quite difficult, and I agree that the dorsal view, or any angle where you can see the feathers of the top of the wings is better than the typical flying toward you stuff.
I would do two things. Straighten the bird up, maybe a 10-15 degree clockwise rotation. I realize what we see is what angle the bird was flying, but the rotation makes more sense compositionally(IMO).
A tighter crop, from the top and bottom, would also help.
A one pixel black border would help as well. Pretty much mandatory in high key presentations so that the image doesn't get mixed up with the web page background. Just add 2 pixels to height and width in "canvas size" and make sure to pick black.
Great job! regards~Bill

Hi William. You are right. A high-key image such as this needs a thin white border to finish it off. Also, a slight rotation wouldn't hurt. Thanks for your thoughts.