Theme- Black necked stilt

[Lyle Gruby]

Found these at a water treatment plant here in Memphis. First time ever seeing one and definitely first time photographing one. It was overcast all morning until right before this shot--had to make some quick adjustments and got lucky on this one. These little guys are difficult to shoot in flight because they're small, quick, and a little erratic. Had some trouble autofocusing with my TC 1.4 (especially while it was overcast) but the extra reach was a necessity, I always think about the ones I miss more than the ones I get. All C&C's are welcome-- I'm still new here and have really appreciated all the critiques, please keep them coming!

Nikon D7000
Nikkor 200-400 f4 with Nikon 1.4tc at 550mm
Manual exposure mode
ISO 320, f7.1, 1/1600

[Randy Stout]

Lyle:

Nice stretched out legs, down stroke on wings, open bill. The panning gave a real sense of motion/speed.

I think the image could go a bit brighter, 1/3 stop or so. Consider a little more sharpening on the bird.

Cheers

Randy

[Satish Ranadive]

Excellent image. Very nice flight pose with open beak ,nice BG. Agree with Randy Stout regarding Brightness .

[Lyle Gruby]

Thanks for the critiques-- I should probably tone down the brightness on my computers. I've never calibrated them. I added some NR to the photo which took away some sharpness from the bird, but I had already posted it by then.

[Randy Stout]

Lyle:

You really need to calibrate your monitors. From the factory, they are way too hot/bright. Most photographers have the brightness way down at the lower end of the range. It will make a huge difference in getting consistent and reliable images that display well on the web, and print properly as well.

Cheers

Randy

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Lyle, congrats on getting your first image of this species, and dont worry, we all curse at the shots we miss. Good flying pose, and I like the layered BG. Did you run NR on the whole image ( as I understand from your comment in pane #4 ) It is best to select the subject, and only apply NR to the BG, then you can inverse and sharpen the subject.

With regards to cailbrating your monitor, you can view the calibration strip at the bottom of the page and adjust your settings so as to see a clear distinction of each block.