Spoonbill parent and juvenile

Taken while out on the Hooptie Deux with Capt Shadle and Gail. This image is a composite. I saw the youngster chasing the parent, knew that with my chosen focal length of 1000 mm I couldn't fit them both in the frame, so snapped one image of the parent followed by one of the chick. Extended canvas, combined them, fixed the seam, levels adj, eliminated many dust spots, removed some poo from the youngster's back via quick mask., sharpened. Far more work than I usually do on an image!

1/2000, f10, iso800
Canon 1dx, 500 f4 + 2.0tc + lowered tripod

Grace, the result of your hard work in PP is amazing. You did a fine job, lots of interest here and I like the exposure and sharpness on both the birds. Great angle as well.

Excellent PS work! I love how we can overcome some limitations these days!

Hi G,
Love the flawless PP work.
You are amazing with that 2X.
Exposure is excellent.
I like how this image shows the differences between the juvie and adult: red eye/brown eye, no feathers on head/feathers on head, long bill/short bill.
Gail

Quick thinking on making 2 images here, Grace. You did superb work in PS. I can't see any evidence at all. Love the behavior you captured. The colors and details are awesome. Great story and image!

Hi Grace, excellent pp work, and Im battling to find your 'stitch' :w3 Love the low perspective, and great to see the difference between parent and youth. The tiny waves look cool too.

Great idea and great execution. Beautiful. IQ is outstanding.

Quick thinking on your part - I still have to master that "digitally thinking in the field" part! Very seamless composite, and the interaction looks awesome. I'm sure the waves did not line up perfectly and likely gave you a bit of a challenge there, but it all looks super.

Wow image, great work

Beautiful shot.
Excellent PP work.
Two great poses, excellent comp and details.
Very well done.

Very cool Grace. When I first looked at it I was amazed how you got both so clear and on the same focal plane. Very nice PP work and I would have never known. I want to try that some time. Very well done. Oh ya, your usual great techs make the shot.

Great vision and awesome PP work Grace!

Excellent image in panorama crop.
Great PP work.
Wonderful details,colors and lights.
Love the way both the birds pops up against the BG and open beak and eye og the little one.

Regards,
Satish.