30 Good Minutes #1

[Arthur Morris]

Been swamped. Headed down to the lake early this clear morning at Indian Lake Estates. Did well including this surprise; only the 2nd one that I have seen here...

Canon 800mm f/5.6 L IS lens from the Sequoia with the big lens on the BLUBB (Big Lens Ultimate Beanbag).

ISO 800. (Should have been ISO 400....) Evaluative metering +1 stop: 1/1600 sec. at f/5.6.

Another mistake :): AI Servo central sensor AF with the sensor on the shoulder.... There was enough d-o-f to cover the eye (which turned out to be razor sharp....)

Don't be shy; all comments welcome.

[Peter Coskun]

Beautiful bird and great capture. I still can't wait to see one of these in the wild.

[Joe Senzatimore]

Turned out very well for all the mistakes;) Love the low angle. Great color and detail in the bird as well.

[denise ippolito]

Very nice surprise. Nice pose, HA and lighting. I also like the colors of the immatures more than the adults. Nice smooth, complimentary BG.

[Charles Wesley]

Artie,

Like the color and sharpness on this one. He's got terrific posture. Wish I did. Also like the hint of a shadow in the grass. Most excellent portrait of a bird I've never seen while photographing...
________________________
Charlie Wesley
St. Augustine Beach, FL
http://naturesphotographs.com

[Harshad Barve]

this is one amazing image Guruji , lovely pose and killer BG
TFS

[Krijn Trimbos]

Hi artie,

Great light, excellent subject nice colours, good pose and great detail. All in all a great shot! Well done.

I am sorry I didn't answer earlier but after I returned home I was deported ;) to our Godwit field station to search for nests, and colour ring adults and chicks. I have been swamped with work ever since!

To answer your earlier question about how Jasper and I did during the pro tour. Jasper and I were on a large ranch of about 13000 acre where commercial hunting was forbidden. So most wildlife was not too scittish, which was an excellent starting point. All in all we did well I think, we worked out buts off for 5 weeks and completely filled every category with IMHO shots of good quality. I can't say if we have fair chance of winning as we don't know how others did, but from my point of view we did everything we could and did it very well. We focussed on plants/landscapes the first week, then reptiles/amphibians, third insects and the last two weeks were for birds and mammals. We had a great time and I don't want to speak for jasper but I think we made good team, something that is hard to come by.......

Apart from helping Jasper most of the time I did some side bird projects for myself. I got some nice shots of the green jay, the blue grossbeaks and the phyrilloxia and some dove species. When it gets a little quieter at work, I will post some of my shots.

Cheers,

Krijn

[Arthur Morris]

Hey Krijn,

Great light, excellent subject nice colours, good pose and great detail. All in all a great shot! Well done.

:)

I am sorry I didn't answer earlier but after I returned home I was deported ;) to our Godwit field station to search for nests, and colour ring adults and chicks. I have been swamped with work ever since!

Bummer! We hope to be there with you next year. We need to talk about the timing of the visit. :)

To answer your earlier question about how Jasper and I did during the pro tour. Jasper and I were on a large ranch of about 13000 acre where commercial hunting was forbidden. So most wildlife was not too skittish, which was an excellent starting point. All in all we did well I think, we worked out butts off for 5 weeks and completely filled every category with IMHO shots of good quality. I can't say if we have fair chance of winning as we don't know how others did, but from my point of view we did everything we could and did it very well. We focused on plants/landscapes the first week, then reptiles/amphibians, third insects and the last two weeks were for birds and mammals.

Wow; it sounds as if you guys were quite disciplined.

We had a great time and I don't want to speak for Jasper but I think we made good team, something that is hard to come by.......

Good luck. When is the judging?

Apart from helping Jasper most of the time I did some side bird projects for myself. I got some nice shots of the green jay, the blue grosbeaks and the phyrilloxia and some dove species. When it gets a little quieter at work, I will post some of my shots.

We look forward to seeing them.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Artie, liked this one a lot. Killer expression. beautiful texture in the BG. Doesn't the BG need a little NR?

[Rod Warnock]

Superb capture, Arthur !! A species that always has facinated me. Wonder if a version with tiny bit less in front of bird might be worth a try. Still great as is.
Best regards
Rod Warnock

[Robert O'Toole]

This was at your place Artie! Excellent, what a morning, question is where am I when all the good opportunities happen? <Smile>

Nice and sharp, love the pose.

White balance looks a little on the cold side on this monitor. Here is my version, is it too warm now? I am in Europe at the moment so I dont have my normal PC setup.

PS notes: NR on BG, LAb curves for color, s curve and added green to the grass.

Robert