Coot

[Jonathan Ashton]

Tripod Canon 7D Canon 500mm f4 L IS & 1.4TC ISO 1000 1/250 sec f5.6. Dull light and it was raining, the image is almost straight from the camera, no NR and very little adjustment in ACR.
I was out trying to get some grebe shots but didn't manage anything decent, I grabbed a few coot shots - all comments welcome.

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Nice action Jon, I like the motion blur, really depicts the speed of the take-off!

[vishaljadhav]

SOme thing of a dream for me still to get a decent image of this bird running on water, you have done nicely, the motion blur gives the impact of the motion . The colours in the frame look nice.
I managed to get this once but not at all good, and yes this is a big crop

[gail bisson]

Hi Jonathan,
I am not loving this one.
I don't mind the blur but the head isn't tack sharp and I wish for a better wing position.
Nice low POV and noise looks really good considering the ISO on the 7D.
Gail

[Bill Dix]

Love the POV and the action, and those big coot feet. But I wish for more sharpness.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Have to agree with y'all, i.e. not quite sharp enough, I wanted to gauge your reaction I should have known better

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

A shot I would like to master myself at some point. I like that the head is sharp and don't mind the motion blur on the wings.

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Hi Jonathan,

I wish for either more or less sharpness, if that makes sense. More would have been nice to freeze the head a bit more. Less would have been nice to get more of a pleasing blur (assuming you could have panned with the coot's head).

Either way, these guys are really tough to get. They give very little indication before they take off and you only have a split second to get the action.

With this shot, I would consider taking some off the top, too.

Miguel

[Melissa Groo]

I would try sharpening the head just a bit more but I like the blurred motion in the rest of it. These sure are tough to get and I think you've done a really nice job.
I could also see this as more of a pano, with canvas added to the left, and some crop both above and below.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Thanks again everyone, it is just not quite sharp enough on the head, Melissa, the image posted has had an extra round of sharpening on the head - same old story if it is not in focus or if it is not sharp at capture you cannot make it sharp after, it can be made a bit better but it will never be quite right

[christopher galeski]

nice captureJonathan,like the motion blur,but as been said,the head is soft,but I still like it.

[Joe Murphy]

Apart from the soft head, the shot portrays the action very well.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Jon, capturing what a Coot does best - running across the water like a mad thing, mostly chasing another Coot. I do like the blurred water coming off the foot, together with the flying droplets that stand out against the darker BG. The light hasnt helped with regards to getting enough ss, and crop wise, I would crop up from the bottom to just below the reflection of the splash, and maybe a touch off the top.