A little bit of company

[Steve Kaluski]

Quiet often, in the many hours of patiently sitting, quietly waiting, it's interesting to see what company swings by. Sometimes all you can do is watch, with zero movement as a hare strolls past less than 8 feet away or a Roe buck walks a little further a field, then you get something like foraging pheasants.

Taken very early in the morning, this female pheasant strolled passed and then hunkered down in the grass. Leaving the main kit in position, I managed to squeeze the 500 between the tripod legs and through the lower centre slit in the blind allowing for the low POV. Should have cranked up the ISO2500 for more SS, but managed to get away with it I think?

Cheers
Steve

Subject: Female pheasant in grass, early morning (Phasianus colchicus)
Location: UK
Camera: Canon 1DX
Lens: 500f/4 HH
Exposure: 1/200s at f/5.6 ISO800

[christopher galeski]

nice atmospheric image,nice and sharp were it counts,good detail,like the thinking pose.

[Randy Stout]

Steve:

Very nice environmental feel, with sharpness on the head, looks almost reptilian (the head) . If time would have allowed, a higher ISO with smaller f/stop would have helped get a bit more of the bird in plane of focus without sharpening up the foliage too much.

Time well spent.

Cheers

Randy

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

You not only got away with it Steve, you got away handsomely with the slow SS as I find the head is very sharp. Nice environs around the subject and good DOF. TFS.

[Bill Dix]

Lovely. The sharp detail of the head holds my eye so well that it more than makes up for the oof body. Beautiful image. I wouldn't mind seeing the bird moved slightly to the right in the frame.

[Steve Kaluski]

Thanks folks, I agree Randy, just impatient to get something in the bag without too much movement from the blind. Now I have both 1DX's set at 1600/2500 for the morning starts so should all be good. Bill I might just have something for you later, however cropping is not ideal as the subject began to move towards me and started to fill the lower half of the frame, but a better HA IMHO.

Any chance you could FedEx some of that nice light you guys have over the pond?

[Karl Egressy]

Excellent sharpness of the head. Nice showing the habitat. Excellent shot considering the low shutter speed, HH.

[Binu John]

Beautiful portrait! Love the diffused light, exposure and sharp details on the head!

[Jonathan Ashton]

Lovely shot Steve no reservations at all over sharpness/detail - well done!

[keith mitchell]

Don't think you could get it any sharper ,nor does it need to be, great job in difficult circumstances.
Cheers Keith.
Been away at the caravan in Worcestershire for a few days.

[Daniel Cadieux]

The whole face is nice and sharp, and that's what mostly matters as far as that aspect goes. I like the grassy habitat and good separation between the head and BG. You did very well for the impromptu opportunity you had.

[Steve Kaluski]

Appreciate the comments guys.

Hope you didn't get washed away Keith, but managed to get some images?

Hi Dan, yes I'm finding the more 'impromptu' shots are becoming the more interesting ones, but the techs can go out the window at times, LOL.