More Clipped-Wings Flight

As I mentioned in my last post, tight flight images are a challenge to create--for years I simply gave up too soon--and such images reveal details that simply cannot be seen when you are working wider. This Brown Pelican with a pretty big branch was photographed at Alafai Banks on a Hooptie Deux trip with James Shadle. Such trips are highly recommened :) :) :)

This image was created with the handheld Canon 400mm IS DO lens and the EOS-1D MIII body. ISO 400. Manual exposure: 1/1600 sec. at f/6.3 at 9:20 am. EXP to the right confirmed via histogram check.

According to the internet experts, the lens is not sharp and the camera cannot focus. Man, you gotta love it.

ps: I woulda liked the whole tail too....

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I am starting to warm up to these shots Artie. I really like this. The detail is superb indeed. I did wonder a long time about the 400 DO lens, yet after seeing you use it often nowadays as well as more and more people, that goes to say nothing's wrong with it.

In your experience, would you suggest fill flash in this instance to add some lost light to the under wing area?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ákos Lumnitzer

I am starting to warm up to these shots Artie. I really like this. The detail is superb indeed. I did wonder a long time about the 400 DO lens, yet after seeing you use it often nowadays as well as more and more people, that goes to say nothing's wrong with it. In your experience, would you suggest fill flash in this instance to add some lost light to the under wing area?

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Oshkosh, The 400 DO is a great lens. It is light, focuses super-fast, noticeably faster then the 500 f/4, is great on all types of watercraft, and the alleged specular highlight doughnuts are a non-issue--I get more of them with my 500.

When the sun is out even Manual flash at 1:1 with a Better Beamer does not usually do to much when it is sunny and bright. With the bird this close, however, it might have helped.

The details are great and the stick adds to it. Aside from the mentioned missing tail, I would try to get more details in the shadows.

Artie,
I think you are correct about the detail captured here that can not be captured working wider. You have captured that detail well.

As a few others have mentioned the shadow detail I will add that I believe that some of the important detail, though captured lies hidden in the shadows and that it may well be worth the effort to bring that detail out. I have heard it said, "The Shadow Knows" so I took the liberty to load the image into software to find out what 'the shadow knows'. Here for your consideration is a repost of the result of quickly pulling some detail from shadow areas -

http://upload.pbase.com/image/111118034/original.jpg

Sky and most of the bird has remained unchanged from OP except for darker areas.
Image was sharp in OP. I did add a bit of sharpening to the bird (dark pixels) in this version after working the shadow. There was a couple of tiny spots (hot pixels maybe) that showed up on the breast after pulling detail - Healing Brush fixed them quickly.

Thanks Kim for the repost. You did a good job of opening up the shadows.

I'm a fan of the occasional tight crop, for the reasons you stated. Getting face to face with a bird or animal brings a whole different experience to the viewer. This one is nicely done, and Kim's repost is an improvement. If you cropped in closer from the right, to remove the tail totally, you would lose too much of the wing detail.