Theme: Water Rail

[Dave Collins]

This is my first post, so hello all! I'm hoping to get a bit more involved from now on having spent a while lurking in the background :)

I spent a lot of cold, wet, uncomfortable hours over the winter with these elusive birds here in England at a site close to home. Cracking little characters that I have fallen in love with. This image was taken just after Christmas during a fairly bright but cold day. I was hoping for a profile shot but this particular bird emerged at point blank range.

D800 + 300 f2.8 + 1.7xtc

F/8, ISO 800, 1/400, handheld with the help of a beanbag, cropped with a small amount of clockwise rotation along with a touch of sharpening and adjustment of levels.

Thanks for looking!

[Lyle Gruby]

Wow, I was going to ask how you got so close to this bird until I read about your encounter! There's nothing better than getting to know a skittish subject and finally getting a great shot of them. Great subject, beautiful BG. I'd selectively sharpen small portions of the bird's head a bit more, specifically the area above the eye. I'd also remove some of the reflections in the eye and darken the pupil (a trick I learned from Dan Cadieux!). Looking forward to more.

[Karl Egressy]

Nice details and colors and very nice background.

[David Salem]

Welcome to BPN Dave and a very nice image to start off with. Great-looking detail and color against a nice smooth background. Good capture and look forward to more.

[William Dickson]

Hi Dave, welcome to BPN. You will learn a lot here. Great image to begin with. I have photographed these rails in the past, so I know how difficult it is to get close. You have done well here. I like the feather details and the sharpness on the bird. Lovely BG. The cold, wet, uncomfortable hours have paid off. Hope you post more images. Will.

[Gerald Kelberg]

Hi Dave, Welcome to BPN. I think we all start out by lurking for a while.

A cracking image and well worth the hours in the cold!

You have excellent image quality here and great feather detail. To my taste - I would back off on the sharpening a touch so it doesn't get the spiky look.

Looking forward to more!

Gerald

[Bill Dix]

Welcome to BPN. A very nice first post; a handsome shot of this elusive character. Lovely BG, in addition to good detail and color. Sharpening looks just on the edge, but ok for my taste.

[Dave Collins]

Thank you all for such a warm welcome and for providing some useful critique. It's very much appreciated!

[Richard Flack]

Welcome to BPN Dave, nice portrait of a real skulker! Lovely detail! If anything I would loved to have seen more of the bird in the frame. TFS

[Dave Collins]

Thanks Richard. I opted for the portrait approach for this one as there was a fair bit of vegetation between me and the rail and with it being so close the framing was a lot tighter than I'd have liked. I'll post another shot from this project shortly :)