LBCIF (long-billed curlew in flight)

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Sony A900~ Sony 500 mm F/4 G, Sony 1.4X, ISO 1000, F/5.6~ 1/1600 sec~ manual exposure~ hand-held~overcast~1-31-2014~South Jetty, Galveston, Texas~CS6

critique and comments welcomed. regards~Bill

[Henry Domke]

Wow! This image just about knocked me over. The color and pattern of the bird is remarkably beautiful. Everything about the birds position works; head angle, wing position, even the leg position.
And then of course that long bill...

The only thing that I question is the sharpness of the eye. Is it tack sharp? I can't really tell without seeing a full-resolution image.

[Greg Oakley]

Superb flight pose - agree that it may be a touch soft on the head

[Emanuel Tiberi]

Great picture you have there! I would run some sharpening on the head.

[Marina Scarr]

Super flight pose and striking image. Wish it were not quite so tight and sharper.

[Karl Egressy]

Excellent flight shot, but the head could use one more round of sharpening.

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Appreciate the comments Henry, Greg, Emanuel, Marina, and Karl.
I agree it needs another round of sharpening, which I have posted here. Better?
Henry had questions about the sharpness of the eye, and indeed I have found the eyes of curlews
problematic.
After studying this I've determined the problem may be morphological.
Long-billed curlews have dark eyes surrounded by naked skin (the sclerotic ring) that is
dark colored and rough at its margins. This tends to visually merge with the eye itself, and the eye does not appear sharp. The opacity of a dark sclerotic ring seems to be factor as well; in some birds it is quite shiny and well defined, even though dark and surrounding a dark eye, and doesn't present a problem. The curlew's is not shiny at all.
So what to do about it?

Given a close shot with specific light angles, the appearance of a merge can be avoided. Not too likely with a flight capture. Otherwise the local adjustment brush in ACR is useful, but not so much with a downsized web image. regards~Bill

[Bret Goddard]

Congrats on this one. Beautiful Bird.

[Frank Schauf]

Excellent flight pose and sharp details.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Excellent flight shot, well done.

[Satish Ranadive]

Excellent flight pose with beautiful colors, details, HA and composition.Re post looks wonderful.

Regards,
Satish.

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

A cool bird with nice wing position and head angle. A bit too tight in the frame for me.