A Pair of Stilts

[Bill Dix]

From Palo Alto Baylands last month. This is the only flight shot of these guys that I got the afternoon I was there. Five birds were in the full frame, coming in to feed on the mudflats as the tide was going out. I cropped down to the best two. C&C appreciated.

D7000, 700mm, ISO 800, 1/2000s @ f/7.1 manual, gitzo and mongoose.

[John Robinson]

Grand shot Bill ! last time I saw these was on the Camargue 30 years back. See you,ve got the right camera any way !!
Cheers
JR

[keith mitchell]

Bill I can't find any nits to pick it looks great to me.

Keith.

[dankearl]

Very nice….
Sharp and nice flight poses.

[David Levinson]

Beautiful photo of some beautiful birds. Sharp focus, well composed. Really nice.

[Bob Serling]

Overall, a very nice shot. Just a couple of points that could improve it even more. The rear wings are in shadow, which obscures the detail. Also, one of the most striking features of Stilts is there dark orange eye, so I'd look to get in tighter on a single bird to really draw out the eye. That might mean shooting hand held though to get proper tracking on a single bird.

[Arthur Morris]

Ditto Bob above. The wing position of the rear bird is pretty good, the front bird not so great :). A crop from the bottom would not hurt.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Bill, great getting more than one subject in the same frame, and I like how they are following each other. I agree with having a better wing position on the front stilt, and feel this needs a slight CW rotation.

[Bill Dix]

Thanks everyone. Yes, I agree about the lack of detail in the blacks. I actually sort of liked the braking wing position on the front bird, but I guess I'm in the minority.

[Bill Jobes]

Hi Bill !

I like the flight dynamics/body positions of the bird together. They're rather dainty looking in-flight.

Perhaps a vertical, l tighter crop of the rear bird would make a compelling piece on its own.

[Bill Dix]

Thanks Bill. That would have been a nice idea, except for the fact that the OP was already a large crop. But just for fun, I've taken it to the extreme. Here's a vertical that represents only 10.7% of the pixels in the FF image. I've also tried to open up the blacks. Too bad the IQ just isn't there. Maybe some day I'll get a closer fly-by of one of these beautiful birds.

[Bill Jobes]

I like this version much more, Bill -- thanks for giving it a go !