Theme: Long Bill - Roseate Spoonbill on the Tampa Bay mudflats

[Randy Stout]

This spoonie was imaged in 2010 and never processed. I thought his bill qualified for the theme. Folks have been posting with some older cameras, so thought I would join in the fun.

D300 AFS 500 f/7.1 I/2000s ISO 320 Tripod mounted. Wading about Tampa bay with Capt. Shadle, great times.

Post: Minor crop, selective sharpening, softened the harsh shadows on the mud flat behind the bird.

Advice and comments always appreciated.

Cheers

Randy

[Ian Wilson]

A lot to like here Randy - great looking spoonbill, lovely eye-contact, well developed and framed. All looks good to me.

[christopher galeski]

very nice Randy,love the colors,nice pose with the raised foot,great IQ.TFS.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Ha ha, digging at me? Older cameras.....
Mate, this is really good!
Love the lifted foot, the eye contact and the nice contrasting colour of the water.
They are spectacular birds really. Wish we had them this good looking in Oz, but alas, we do not.
Thanks for sharing Randy!

[adrian dancy]

No Akos it's probably me........not just old cameras but old pictures! Over the last few years I have been out very rarely (except peregrine breeding season) and sometimes I do not create even one image .....I digress.
This Randy is pretty much picture perfect. Raised leg, eye contact, light, colour, detail and composition.

[gail bisson]

Was this the same trip I was on?
I like this one because of the water color. It is usually so green but here it is brown.
Nice for a change!
Good IQ, like the trailing foot and the way the bird is moving towards you. Whites exposed for perfectly.
A small observation- I would clone out the specular highlight on the foot. For some reason, it grabs my eye.
Gail

[John Robinson]

All been covered Randy. Good stuff.
John

[Bill Dix]

Nicely lit bird showing colors to perfection. Good raised-foot pose. Nice to pull out old unprocessed files once in a while.

[Satish Ranadive]

Marvellous image. Wonderful colours with superb details. Very nice pose with raised foot and beautiful HA.
Great composition.

Regards,
Satish.

[Randy Stout]

Thanks everyone for the comments. I sometimes like to revisit older files to try new techniques on. This one was never processed originally, but had potential , so gave it a go.

Under good conditions, the older cameras could generate very nice files. The lighting here allowed me to use an ISO of 320, which gave pretty clean files with the D300, esp. if properly exposed to begin with.

Gail - I think you are right.

Cheers

Randy