Sandhill Crane

I was hoping to get back to Bosque this winter but our schedules aren't going to work for it. I was reviewing some old images and found this one from 2010 that I rather like. The equipment was old and I could probably get a little better IQ today. Canon 5D2, 300mm f/2.8 IS + 1.4X TC II. ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/3000 sec. First light at dawn. Don't remember if I was on a tripod or handholding, but I do remember I was freezing to death.

Just very basic LR adjustments (revisited with the latest version) and into PS for some extremely slight BG retouching -- removal of about two OOF weeds. Did a Nik Detail Extractor on the head, which was tonally a little flat, and a touch of local contrast on the near wing. It's cropped to 40% of the full frame. I would have preferred more pixels on the subject.

Wow. This is beautiful Diane. :)

What incredible light !! Hard to find a single nit with this one. ( Not that I,m particularly looking for one ! )
John

Hi Diane, that is a great IQ considering 40% full frame crop! Tones are fantastic, as is the composition and wing position.

TFS-Ross

I like the flight angle, sharpness, details, composition and complimentary BG. Very well done Dianne!

This is nothing short of a fantastic flight shot and the lighting is so sweet. The detail and colour in the feathers is sublime.

Very nice BIF image. I have a similar one form the same place and it is also my favorite.
Love the pose and the evenly lit bird.

Gorgeous light really gives us a great view of this bird.

In an ideal world, the near wing would be a bit further down, but that really is nit picking. I love the curled primaries on the far wing.

Mike

This is really nice Diane! I agree that in a perfect world the near wing would be a bit lower but man the light and details are killer. One of the better sandhill shots I have seen in a while. Well done

Nothing more to say about this! Just beautiful Diane!

Thanks everyone! I'm honored! For better wing positions, I'm looking forward to 12 FPS or whatever the new 1DX II will bring. When it came out I decided the 5D3 would be good enough for my needs, then of course I got interested in things it didn't do well enough. Time to fix that.

its all been said,a great flight image,well done.

Great light and flight pose, Diane.

Killer light and details, Diane!

What a beauty, Diane. All is said above. I wish I could dredge up something like this in my old files. :w3

Beautiful, Diane! I really wish to go to Bosque some day and it's probably not gonna be this year. So looking at these pictures make me wanna go even more!

We have seen lots of Sandhill shots, yours is one of the best. Well done Diane!

Thanks, everyone! Adhika, I saw on artie's blog the other day that the numbers are way down this year. I don't remember if it was equally low for Sandhills and geese. He has an excellent PDF guide to shooting there and posts updates on his blog during his workshops there.