Western Meadowlark in Flight

[Doug Brown]

Western Meadowlarks aren't the fastest fliers in the world, but they're small, they fly low to the ground, and usually stay airborne for short distances. I was happy to get a couple of decent flight frames this morning. With me were BPNers Gary Rouleau and Kristin Wilkinson, along with one other friend.

http://birdwhisperer.smugmug.com/Animals/Birds/BPN/20100404-V5C5314-Western/827495123_u3UgA-O-2.jpg

Canon 1D Mark IV, 600mm, f/6.3, 1/5000, ISO 800, hand held

[Markus Jais]

Doug is this full frame? This is pretty insane! Absolutely awesome capture!

Markus

[David Gancarz]

Great capture and colors! Not easy to get hold of these guys in flight. The background complements the bird well. The yellows seem a little oversharped to my taste (please, please don't tell me this was never sharpened :eek:). Excellent photography, as always.

[Jory Griesman]

Great image. Like the composition and wing position, sharpness and colours. Also wondered about the yellows, as David mentioned. Could it have been the light (midday), or was this image shot earlier?

[Morkel Erasmus]

I second Marcus - awesome capture. Oodles of detail, great pose, clean BG, exposure spot on. Wish it was mine.
the yellow feathers do look a tad too crisp?

[Katie Rupp]

Hi Doug, I love Meadowlarks and this is a very impressive capture, great detail and complimentary bg, small bird in flight...all that handheld with the 600!

[Mark Schmitt]

Good image. BA is very good; caught in good light; can't beat the BG. Wonder if it is perhaps just a little over-sharp? Just a tiny bit of noise in the dark values of the primaries. Over-all image in a keeper. ;)

[Luis Villablanca]

Wow, 600L handheld!!
Great job tracking this bird. There is certainly plenty of detail on this image.
The lighting looks a little harsh on my monitor though, giving me the feeling that it was shot late in the morning, when the sun was high up.

[James Salywoda]

Awesome shot Doug pretty amazing tracking considering the size of the subject and physically tracking it. Well Done!
I wish it was mine.

[John Chardine]

It's an impossible image Doug, but you have proved otherwise.

[Kiran Poonacha]

Beautiful life like image Bhai, great sharpness, nice light and BG...

[Stu Bowie]

Hand holding a 600mm is no mean feat, and to capture a small subject is simply outstanding. Good sharp detail, and I like the complimentary BG too.

[Doug Brown]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. Here's a repost with a little less sharpening. How does it look?

[Ofer Levy]

This is a killer shot!! Both versions look fine to me althought BG looks smoother in the repost.

[David Gancarz]

Truly spectacular, Doug. I like the revised version best. This will live as my work computer desktop image for April!

[Doug Brown]

I'm honored David! :)