Touchdown

[Stu Bowie]

I was going through my files searching for a particular image when I came across this. I liked the stately pose this Flamingo created as he touched down in the water. Taken a good while back at a wetlands location south of Johannesburg. (6.38am in winter ) I removed two OOF Flamingo's in the BG.

Canon 20D
70-200 + 1.4 TC ( borrowed ) @ 280mm
1/800
F/6.3
ISO 400

Exp Comp 0
Hand held from a hide

[PRABIR BHATTACHARYYA]

Stuart, incredible capture of the stride. And its quite a difficult task to sync with the movement which you did too good.
If it were mine, I'd have toned down the warm colour of the background a bit and sharpened the eye a little more.

[Stu Bowie]

If it were mine, I'd have toned down the warm colour of the background a bit and sharpened the eye a little more.

Thanks Prabir. This location is known to produce these warm colours at sunrise. I will go back to my original and see if I had increased any saturation. 6.38am may sound late, but this was in winter.

[Dave Leroy]

Lovely action captured Stuart. I really like the nice stretched out pose as well as the lovely colors.

[Jamie Douglas]

Hi Stuart

I think the warm colours have to stay but I do agree that the head could be sharpened a tad. Sweet pose.

Jamie

[Robert Holguin]

WOW!!! Superb action shot. Love the pose, great timing, excellent comp, and real nice light.
Well done.

[Ken Watkins]

Stuart,

Great pose, we get such warm sunrises over here (when visible) that the colours seem OK to me. I agree on some sharpening on the head, but the stride is what makes this interesting and different.

[Karl Egressy]

Wow, Stuart this is fantastic.
I'm glad that you found this image among the old files.
Love everything about it.
It's a happy picture.

[Randy Stout]

Stuart:

The pose makes this one, really shows off those incredibly long legs. I like the colors, but agree about the separation of the head from the bg.

In a perfect world, would prefer the far shoreline to not cut through the neck and the bill tip not intersect with the darkest line, but with a neck like that, its hard to avoid!

Some selective tweaking of the sharpness of the head, and luminosity of the BG might help with your separation.

Cheers

Randy

[Stu Bowie]

Thank you all so much for the feedback. Here is a repost with selectively sharpening to the head. I feel the ss has let me down with regards to critical sharpness, so Im not sure the repost is going to be any better.

[Sachin Saraf]

The repost really brought this one to life...excellent light and that striking pose is USP of this shot ...I will suggest you should frequently go through your old files :S3:

[gail bisson]

Terrific pose but the IQ is definitely not up to your usual standards. Repost is better but the head looks yello now,
Gail

[Stu Bowie]

Sachin, Gail, thanks for taking the time to comment.

[arash_hazeghi]

Stu this is a great landing but I have to say the IQ lacks, especially compared to your usual standards, honestly I wouldn't keep this one :S3:

[Stu Bowie]

Thanks a stack Arash. Yep, I accept the IQ isnt the best in this. :w3