Sandhill Crane Courtship Dance

[Jack Dean III]

Sandhill Cranes sometimes throw things into the air as a part of their courtship dances. I caught this one throw a piece of corn. This was taken March 13th 2015 near Linton, IN during a migration event.
Hand held from my car - Canon 7d - EF 400mm f/5.6 lens - f/7.1 - 1/640 sec - ISO 250 - processed in Lightroom

[arash_hazeghi]

the image is too small for critique, you need to post it larger (at least 1024 pixels wide)

[Grace Scalzo]

What a great story you are telling here. The one with the corn has a great pose and the ones watching him are comical. I like the wide view. You succeeded in freezing the action, but I would certainly use a higher ISO and hence more shutter speed. Thanks for sharing, this is really interesting.

[arash_hazeghi]

I deleted the small file, the larger file is much better.

It's cool that the flying crane has corn in his bill. He is a bit soft though and lacking in details because of the slow SS as Grace mentioned.

TFS

[Marina Scarr]

While maybe not a perfect image from a technical standpoint, this is great behavior and action you have captured and shared with us. It's hard to believe that these creatures actually until you witness it with your own eyes. I think this image portrays that playfulness so well.