Sandhill Crane Landing.

[Karl Egressy]

This image is from Bosque Del Apache. We had great time there and came home with some nice shots I guess.
Thanks for looking.

Canon 1D M IV.
Canon 500 f4.0 L IS
Manual Exposure
ISO 400 1/2000 s
f6.3
Shot from tripod.

[Randy Stout]

Karl:

Tremendous landing pose, colors, pleasant BG, open bill. Having trouble figuring out the shadow vs. the lighting on the bird. I might be tempted to clone out the shadow.

Cheers

Randy

[Melissa Groo]

What an exuberant image. I love the light, the detail, that splendid pose, Karl. Great to see the bill open too. I find the cut off shadow kind of distracting. But what a splendid image of this crane. Can't wait to see more from your trip.

[Raymond Lee]

Great shot Karl! Lovely lighting and sharp details. The shadow does make the image look a bit weird (direction of lighting vs. the shadow). I'm not sure about the shorebird in the background either...could be a good size comparison, but could be distracting. I would also consider cloning out that OOF grass right below the left foot.

[Karl Egressy]

Thank you Randy, thank you Melissa.
You are right about the shadow.
Here is the one with the shadow cloned out.

[Karl Egressy]

Great shot Karl! Lovely lighting and sharp details. The shadow does make the image look a bit weird (direction of lighting vs. the shadow). I'm not sure about the shorebird in the background either...could be a good size comparison, but could be distracting. I would also consider cloning out that OOF grass right below the left foot.

Thank Raymond. done it already, the grass that is. I might leave the OOF shorebird for size comparison for now, as you noticed my intention right.

[Randy Stout]

Karl:

Works much better for me, takes it up several notches!

Well done.

Cheers

Randy

[stuart wanuck]

Love the repost

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Stunning image, Karl. The light, pose and IQ are just top notch. Excellent!

[Raymond Lee]

The repost is much better!

[John Cooper]

Love the flight pose Karl of the Crane about to alight - really applying the brakes here! Sharp, good exposure and I do like your repost changes.

[Satish Ranadive]

Karl:
Magnificent landing pose captured.I like the repost without shadow.
Love the wing position,open beak,great details and lovely BG colors,beautifully complimenting with bird colors.

Regards,
Satish.

[David Salem]

Awesome landing pose. Like everything about this shot and the light was great. Tons of detail and the exposure looks spot on. Like the re-post without the shadow. Well done.

[christopher galeski]

nice landing pose Karl,nice detail and light,glad you got rid of the shadow.thanks.

[gail bisson]

Hi Karl,
This is one of the nicest landing shots of a crane I have seen. The light and pose are beautiful and the HA is perfect.
I am glad you cloned out the stray piece of grass by the foot. I didn't mind the shadow but I am not sure about the shorebird and might clone him out.
Gail

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Karl, excellent landing pose showing the feather detail of the wings nicely. Light looks good, as does the sharpness. Im fine with the shadow in your OP, but must admit your repost looks good too. Love the colours too. Well captured.

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Karl, the repost is something else. I was going to suggest just lightening the shadow, as I wasn't sure you'd be able to clone it out ... but boy did you clone it out! Great detail and color throughout!

[Karl Egressy]

Hi Karl,
This is one of the nicest landing shots of a crane I have seen. The light and pose are beautiful and the HA is perfect.
I am glad you cloned out the stray piece of grass by the foot. I didn't mind the shadow but I am not sure about the shorebird and might clone him out.
Gail

Thanks, Gail.
Now I got rid of the OOF Shorebird as well, as per your and Raymond's advices.

[Bill Dix]

Wonderful landing pose, Karl. Beautiful light and underwing detail. Reposts are and improvement - I could see it with our without the shorebird. Let's see more from Bosque. Well done.

[Greg Oakley]

Great timing and sweet light in this Karl,
Cheers Greg

[dankearl]

Third times the charm, Karl.
Excellent warm light and nice landing!

[arash_hazeghi]

this is excellent love the dramatic landing, light exposure detail and everything else! well done

[Robert vanMierop]

'Like the repost, and really like the open bill since it isn't often that they do that in flight. Beautiful exp.

[Arthur Morris]

Sweet indeed. Big pluses are the open bill and the position and detail of the far wing. Near-wing position is less than ideal. Eliminating the Killdeer worked well. An option would have been to move it to the right o balance the composition. The messy landing area is less than ideal. Cleaning up at least the brighter white spots would be a good plan, especially the one on the lower frame-edge just right of center. It looks as if it could use a bit of CW rotation. Lastly, looks like a bit of sloppy PS work around the bird's left foot.... Hope that you are glad that you asked me to have a look :).

[Karl Egressy]

Sweet indeed. Big pluses are the open bill and the position and detail of the far wing. Near-wing position is less than ideal. Eliminating the Killdeer worked well. An option would have been to move it to the right o balance the composition. The messy landing area is less than ideal. Cleaning up at least the brighter white spots would be a good plan, especially the one on the lower frame-edge just right of center. It looks as if it could use a bit of CW rotation. Lastly, looks like a bit of sloppy PS work around the bird's left foot.... Hope that you are glad that you asked me to have a look :).

Thank you Artie, yes I am.
You are right about all of those flaws. Having seen your image, I was wondering if it would have been a good idea for me to eliminate the landing strip alltogether and have the water only as on your image.
Next time, I have a couple of more to look at. Learning is never ending that's why I like this Forum very much.

[Corey Hayes]

Excellent shot Karl!