Sandhill Crane.

[Karl Egressy]

When I'm at Boscue, I'm looking for static shot opportunity as it is sometimes more difficult due to the lack of separation.
Some of them are more colourful than others. This guy looks nice in the morning sun and I like the golden colour of the tall grass.
I left little room at the feet to avoid showing too much OOF grass.
Thanks for looking.

Canon 1D M IV
Canon 500 f4.0 L IS
Manual Setting
ISO 1600
1/1600 s
f 5.0 (setting was done for BIF as they took off ever so frequently.)

[Randy Stout]

Karl:

The colors here are really nice, lovely feather detail, I like the environmental component, while still showing the bird well, feet not an issue for me here. Head is slightly away, but still effective.

I might clean up the prominent stalk intersecting the tip of the bill, but otherwise, it works well for me.

Cheers

Randy

[John Cooper]

Agree Karl that the Crane looks very colourful in the early morning light and I like the tall grasses of the environment shown here. The crane is very sharp and I like that the head and neck fall against that softer OOF BG.
Now if it had just turned the head towards you a little......

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Love the habitat in this one Karl. It gives a sense of the place without overpowering. I also love how well the bird blends in its environment.
I see a faintly cloned head/bill right above the real one.

[Don Nelson]

Good eyes Sidharth! I see this too, as well as some artifacts (another bill?) just above the bird's eye.
colors in this one are beautiful. I also agree with removing that stalk right under the end of the bill.
A little different PP work on the original raw will result in a very nice image

[Satish Ranadive]

Fabulous image with beautiful color scheme,nice lights,details and lovely 3D effect caused by environment.
Love it.

Regards,
Satish.

[arash_hazeghi]

very nice display of enviroment in great light. There is residue of cloning above the bill (looks like a 2nd bill was there )

[Karl Egressy]

Love the habitat in this one Karl. It gives a sense of the place without overpowering. I also love how well the bird blends in its environment.
I see a faintly cloned head/bill right above the real one.

Thank you, Sidharth. I found it the weirdest thing as I did not clone anything around the beak and head but yes, it was there. I cloned (cleaned) at the bottom at few spots using about 37 percent opacity of the cloning tool. At one point I guess I clicked at the wrong spot or something. I also found artifacts around the beak which is again weird as I separated (selected) the bird for sharpening and all the rest of the processing. Well, one of those days.
Thanks again. Here is the corrected version but now it is too smotth around the beak. You cannot win loosing haha.

[Don Nelson]

Try a protect and clone -- copy the beak/head onto another layer, then clone the grasses at 30-40% opacity over the smooth area you have - you'll add the texture from another part of the grass

[PhilCook]

Lovely color tones in this, and especially seeing the orange spots on the birds flanks, the golden grass is extra nice too, all comes together nicely

[Greg Oakley]

Lovely capture Karl - love the bird-in-environment feel to this - great light as well,
Cheers Greg

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the colours, setting, details and composition. Nice image Karl.

[Marina Scarr]

Love pose and light. The grasses work so well to showcase your crane. RE is quite strong.

[Dennis Zaebst]

I think I know just where that photo was taken. I have a similar sandhill crane in an environment that looks a little like this. I too am a fan of placing subjects in their natural habitat. Very nice light and colors. Very well done Karl.