Red-Winged Blackbird

[Marlo Casabar]

I got to the Village Creek Drying Beds - Arlington, TX - at sunrise and was bummed for two reasons. It was cloudy and I forgot to bring my tripod. I decided to hoof it and after an hour found which beds had the most bird activity.

Due to handholding I had to boost my ISO to 1250 to get a shutter speed that I thought would help freeze the action.

Thanks for any comments.

Canon 7D MkII 600mm f/4L IS II USM and 1.4x III
Manual 1/2000 f/8 ISO 1250

[Isaac Grant]

Don't think I've ever seen a better in flight shot of one of these birds. Excellent details, wing position and exposure on the bird. I also very much like the clean blue background. Extremely well done. And further for the long trek and getting this shot hand held with that beast of a lens.

[John Whaley]

Great shot. They are very difficult bif captures and you nailed this one. Exposure and detail look good. I would like to see how the image looked if you leveled the bird a bit.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Good wing position, good composition, great looking blacks. Looks sharp, but just a small additional dose to the face would work well for web posting IMO. Even with a tripod you need this type of faster SS to freeze small flying birds. Good job all around.

[Marlo Casabar]

Thanks everyone for the comments and critiques. It seems that a lot of you professionals use DPP and Photoshop to edit your photos. I have been using Lightroom for years but I think I need to make the jump.

Marlo

[David Salem]

Perfect critique by Daniel. Covered everything well. Well captured.
P.S. I use LR and PS together so no worries there. I use DPP for high ISO stuff but luckily I don't need it much.
Keep them coming