Glossy Ibis wing stretch

[adrian dancy]

Glossy Ibis is a rarity in the UK particularly in Greater Manchester. We had four of them grace our county in 2013. It was an early rise on a very cold and miserable day with wind and occasional light drizzle. On a occasion we were treated to a bit of light breaking through the clouds. On one such a occasion the bird shown here decided to stretch its wing and I was able to land on the bird in time to get several sharp frames. In the afternoon the light got better but I was gone trying to get Black Redstart and Wheatear on the upland moors.

Canon 7D, Sigma 500f4.5 EX, tripod and hot coffee:)

ISO500, f4.5, 1/640 sec.

Small crop, levels and saturation adjustment with final sharpening.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

That's great when you get such cooperative birds. Looks gorgeous, the wing stretch is fantastic.
Here is me thinking how lucky I got a couple of years ago getting really close to two young ones of these in a popular Sydney park after a day of pouring rain (the sun came out for me).

I love the POV and you have some wonderful detail here as presented!
Thanks for sharing

[Satish Ranadive]

Excellent image. Lovely stretch, showing wonderful colors and details. I like the POV and nice composition.

Regards,
Satish.

[arash_hazeghi]

Hi Adrian,
I like the pose with the wing display and the nice iridescence you captured despite the soft light. sharp details with a good HA and eye contact. I like the low angle and the FG. I wonder what it would have looked like shooting from a higher angle with the feet visible and the BG fully covered with the green, but the low angle has the advantage of being at eye level with ibis so maybe a better choice overall.

Thanks a lot for your membership support.

[Mervyn Marsh]

Beautiful, looks fantastic.. like light, back ground and pose of the bird.. very nicei

[gail bisson]

You nailed this one Adrian!
Love the POV and the wing stretch.
If I were to be super picky I would clone out the little spot of brown in the grass on the RHS of frame.
The sharpness is excellent on the wing and body but I think you could also back off a bit on the neck and head.( No one else has mentioned this so I could be wrong as I have not had my morning coffee yet!)
Very nice shot and a pose we do not often see photographed in a glossy ibis,
Gail

[Joseph Przybyla]

Beautiful colors, love these birds when the sun hits them just right to bring out the iridescence. Nice image, Adrian. Thank you for sharing.

[Randy Stout]

Adrian:

The soft light gives you nicely saturated colors, shows off the birds sometimes subtle spectrum.

I see Arash's point about shooting angle, but on balance think this is best for this situation.

Before I read any comments, I did ponder the sharpening on the head, it looked a bit "coarse". I might tinker with that area a bit.

Cheers

Randy

[Karl Egressy]

The tripod might have been set very low, creating this nice low shooting angle, Adrian. Love the wing stretch showing off the beautiful hue.

[Lorant Voros]

What a nice wing stretch. Nice low shooting angle, good settings with the grass and the sky. I'd sharpen the head and the top of the wing a little less. TFS and keep them coming.

[Geoff Newhouse]

Very nice image. I love the low angle and the wing position to show off the "glossy". As Arash mentioned, maybe a slightly higher angle and all green background would have been nice also but I would have also shot this view if it was me.

TFS
Geoff

[dankearl]

Nice detail and nice shallow DOF. The high key BG works well with the bird colors.

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the low angle, pose, iridescence on wing, IQ and composition. Excellent image Adrian!

[adrian dancy]

Many thanks for your kind and constructive comments. Points on sharpening noted. I have to admit that some of the images I show here are lifted from another website and downsized usually from 1600 pixels. This necessitates re-sharpening usually at .2r circa 120 amount. I'm happy to say this image was published in 'British Birds' and was made picture of the day in the Manchester Evening News.

[adrian dancy]

Arash, many thanks for your comments. I obtained a number of shots with grassy backgrounds. However the birds favoured the taller grasses to forage in, and would walk or run briskly from one tall tussock to the next. This made getting crisp shots for a large darkish bird problematic when they were walking or running, then once they were in the tall grasses their feet would be hidden :( Image attached demonstrates.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Adrian, you cant get a better wing stretch than this, and it shows off the iridescence so well. I feel your shooting angle is just fine - great eye level perspective. Congrats on getting this image published - its always great to be recognised.

[Bill Dix]

I like everything about this one. Fabulous wing stretch showing great iridescence, terrific low POV. I also noticed the sharpness on the neck and head; looks OK on my screen but just about on the edge. It might jangle my nerves if I hadn't had my coffee.

[Frank Schauf]

Nice sharp detail and low angle, Adrian.

[keith mitchell]

Don't know how I missed this Adrian, excellent image,congrats on theme success .

Keith.

[Arthur Morris]

Adrian, Mazel tov on the rarity and all the honors. a