61-Point Drunken Sailor

[Arthur Morris]

This dancing dark morph Reddish Egret photograph was made on the last afternoon of the Fort Desoto/Hooptie Deux Short Notice IPT with the tripod-mounted Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens, the Canon 1.4x EF Extender III (Teleconverter), and the Canon EOS-1D X Digital SLR camera. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +1 1/3 stops as framed: 1/1000 sec. at f/5.6 in Manual mode. 61-point/AI Servo/Rear Focus AF on the bird’s head just behind the eye active at the moment of exposure. Click here if you missed the Rear Focus Tutorial. Based on the wind and the weather my last- second decision to change of our afternoon shooting location paid off big time. I kept 45 images of this bird dancing and catching fish. 61-Point AF performed superbly here as it does with most situations featuring erratic action.

To see this image larger, and to see more images from the IPT, check out "If It Works and Feels Good, Do It Again."

As for the image, don't be shy; all comments welcome.

Be sure to check out our EOS-1D X AF Guide here.

[Phillip Tomkinson]

Hi the water looks like it's going down hill but it's not it just looks that way, I find the comp a bit off for me, the bird is to far to the left, I think I would crop the image to just below the birds feet keeping the same comp.

Phil.

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Artie, I actually love the comp because of the trail left behind in the water. Light is gorgeous and the pose is superb.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I like the placement of the subject in the frame for the same reason Sid mentions...I could see some cropped off at bottom, enough to rid the two larger brown streaks, but I like it as is too. Love the dancing pose and nice light.

[Arthur Morris]

Artie, I actually love the comp because of the trail left behind in the water. Light is gorgeous and the pose is superb.

Thanks Sidharth (and Dan too). I could see the crop from the bottom. And yes, the image is level :)

[Corey Hayes]

Nice shot Arthur, very nice light and details on the bird.

cool action also.

[PaulAnderson]

I would love to have an image like this the light looks great and nice and sharp but I do agree as stated earlier I'm not a fan of the comp the bird looks as if it was about to run of the cameras left frame.

[Karl Egressy]

Great pose and the bird is beautifully lit. I like the water trail behind.

[Phillip Tomkinson]

Hi I flipped it and cropped it to see what it looked like.

Phil.

[Shawn Zierman]

Cool image. Classic behavior captured really well. I could see this is a two page layout, text on the right... :)
Or whatevs...great light quality too. I enjoy the OP, but can also see cropping a bit of the bottom off.

[Frank Schauf]

Perfect comp and light, nice work.

[arash_hazeghi]

very nice light and pose Artie, he looks like a ballet dancer!

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks all. Folks wishing to have the bird on our right are missing the wake :).