Early morning visitor - sandhill crane

While waiting last weekend for the wood ducks to arrive, this fellow strode quietly up to the pond and browsed for a bit. The light had just starting filtering through the trees, and really made him pop. I was set up for wood ducks, so too much lens, but tried to squeeze him in the frame. Had to add a bit of canvas above.

D4 f/5.6 1/320s ISO 1600. Pedestal mounted in my sled blind.

Post: canvas added above. Trimmed a few twigs back. Selective sharpening.

Advice and comments appreciated as always.

Cheers

Randy

I like the feeding pose, light and the image has a fall feel for me even though it was taken last week. Good job fitting him into the frame Randy!

Glad you could fit the crane in the frame and love the early morning light, but the bird is looking overexposed to me.

Hi Randy a real frame filler , think you made the most out of the situation .Lovely warm light and a nice setting .
I also think the bird is a bit bright , look at the red channel completely blown ....... no wonder with the colors and warm light .

TFS Andreas

Thanks everyone. I went back and checked the RAW file this AM after Marina's comment. Not a single blown pixel, even in the red channel. I just pulled the posted file into LR and it showed the brightest spot to be at 96%, with no blown pixels showing. Will revisit it when I have a moment at home.

I certainly could see the bird a bit less bright, but the effect in the early morning sun was pretty striking. It seemed to glow.

Randy

Cool opportunity you had here Randy. I love the leafy floor, and the greens above are a neat touch. Great light for sure, but I too am thinking the exposure could be reduced.

Just for comparison, her is a redo with -.25 less exposure. Let me know what you think.

Thanks

Randy

The RP appeals to me a lot more - for me the OP was a bit of a missed opportunity, but i really like the way the light looks on the second version

A nice frame Randy. I much prefer the exposure on the second.

The RP works very nicely, and I really love the leafy floor here. That's something we never see here in Florida, at least not in SW FL

Without being there it is difficult to comprehend the light intensity. I still feel like I should wear sunnies with the repost, albeit it is not as glowing bright.
Good work getting it all into the frame.