Northern Wheatear- Iceland

[gail bisson]

Took this on Day 1 of our trip to Iceland.
I noticed this wheatear hovering in the field in front of our cabin and decided to have a try at capturing him/her in flight.
I got lucky- Even a blind squirrel gets an acorn sometimes , and caught this topside view as he dove down into the grasses to get some bugs.
Canon 1 DX
600mm
SS 1/2500
F 5.0 ISO 1250
Shot in landscape orientation and full vertical crop.
Comments and critiques always learned from and appreciated with thanks,
Gail

[Alex Becker]

Gail this is really great. Killer pose with the full wing extension and tail spread with a nice head angle and such nice detail! The green at the bottom adds some interest to a clean BG and I like the colors on the bird. Exposure looks good. Must've been pretty sweet to see this on the LCD. TFS

[Mike Poole]

Well the blind squirrel got the tastiest nut on this occasion!

Beautiful full wing spread on this Gail, can't have been an easy shot at all with the speed of these. Got a nice little head turn as well

Mike

[Jonathan Ashton]

Gail you do yourself an injustice! Super shot - it's a real gem, love the pose colours and composition, probably the most pleasing shot I have ever seen of a wheatear.

[Isaac Grant]

I love this shot Gail. Hard to imagine a better angle and view of a flying wheatear. Exposure and sharpness look fantastic. Just so nice

[Bill Dix]

Let's hear it for blind squirrels! And a heap of talent doesn't hurt either. Fabulous flight capture, with wonderful wing spread, good detail, exposure, background. Nicely done indeed! And btw, Congratulations on not one but TWO Audubon Top 100's!

[annmpacheco]

you are a foxy blind squirrel my friend, well stealthy... This is superb, wonderful work, skill, and what a fantastic pose with all the details! Ye, congratulations on TWO of the top 100 Audubon images this year!

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Gail, well absolutely nailed. You couldnt have captured a better wing spread, fanned tail, and overall nice and sharp too. I like your choice of comp.

[Stuart Philpott]

Gail I can only echo the other superlatives,this is a wonderful shot,as with Jon, probably the most stunning image I have ever seen of a wheatear. Sorry I can be more constructive it's incredibly tricky to critique the finest images,and this is just that

TFS

stu

[Mike Hitchen]

This month has seen some very high-grade birds in flight and this is right up there. The colour-scheme on the bird adds a geometric element to what is a wonderful natural history shot.

[David Salem]

This is awesome Gail!! The pose is a s good as you could ask for and the HA and details look fantastic. Very nice work, especially for a blind squirrel. Actually I know better, you work hard at your photography. As me and my buddy Glenn say, You can't get shots like this on the couch
P.S. I took this into PS and lightened the face up a bit. It brightened the eye up and gave it a bit more pop. Great job

[Geoffrey Montagu]

Phenomenal flight capture, Gail. Simply perfect display showing just about every feather pattern on this beautiful species. Wonderful detail. Also congratulations on your TWO Audubon top 100 images.

Geoffrey




http://http://500px.com/geoffreymontagu

[William Dickson]

What else can I say. This is fabulous, and a shot we would all love to get. Very well done Gail.

Will

[gail bisson]

Thanks you all for your comments.
David- great idea about brightening the head. Here is my redo with +10 brightness increase in CS 5

[Jonathan Ashton]

Magic!

[David Salem]

Much better Gail. Definitely more engaging now that we can see the eye and the detail in the head better. It's ready to print

[Tomasz Zawadzki]

What can i say. This is just awesome. It's really hard to get a frame like this. The repost looks better. Amazing job and with shots like that we all need a bit of luck to get them :).