Reeve photomerge

[Dan Brown]

This is a 2 image photomerge. The bird is one of the two Ruffs that were present at the Yolo Basin Wildlife Area in Northern California this past winter, a rarity here. I refer to this individual as "Reeve" which is the female of the species. I photographed the pair of birds over 3 or 4 days and shot many images. When I was editing the images, it was sometimes hard to tell which was the "Ruff" or male and which was the "Reeve" or female. So, this may or may not be the Reeve. The images were captured using a Nikon D200 with a 400mm f3.5 EDIF manual focus lens with a TC14B converter, ISO 100, wide open at 1/1600sec. I used photomerge in the interactive mode and then used a typical workflow, saved for web and then sharpened with Nik Sharpener Pro Inkjet edition.

Dan Brown, Sacramento California

[Fabs Forns]

Nice job of merging, I would soften the contrast a bit and try to minimize the weed in the middle of the frame.Interesting read about the birds too :)

[Dan Brown]

Thanks for the suggestions. Here is an attempt to follow them . Dan

[Fabs Forns]

Much better, Dan :)

[Gus Cobos]

Very nicely done Dan, Love the action and the nice blue background..:cool:

[Robert Amoruso]

And more bird panos - this is great and thanks for posting another Dan. I am liking the repost and I still think the grasses in the water are quite cool. Nice work.

[David Kennedy]

Dan,
I might suggest that there should be a little more space on the left side of the frame for the bird to fly into. This image is almost too symmetrical and that would also help to break that up.

[Bob Ettinger]

The repost is much better.