Roseate Spoonbill taking flight: What a Finale!

[Arthur Morris]

This image was created on the morning of Friday, February 16, 2018 with the Induro GIT 304L/Mongoose M3.6-mounted Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 600mm f/4E FL ED VR lens, the Nikon AF-S Teleconverter TC-14E III, and the blazingly fast AF king, the Nikon D5 DSLR (Dual XQD Slots). ISO 400. Matrix metering at about – 1 2/3 stops: 1/2500 sec. at f/7.1 AUTO0 WB at seven fifty-two am on a clear day. Nikon quick and easy AF fine-tune: +8. Center Group (grp) Shutter Button AF as originally framed.

For the whole story, see the Another Surprising AF Revelation and the Catastrophic Demise of My Nikon D5 ... blog post here

As for the image, please do not be shy. All comments are welcome and appreciated.

with love, artie

[Isaac Grant]

Colors really pop against that dark background and I love the water splash and slightly blurred wing tips.

[John Whaley]

The colors are beautiful and as Issac said do pop against the dark back ground. The water splash adds to the scene. I like the motion blur on the wing tips but am surprised that 1/2500 did not stop the action. Wishing for a bit more angle on the Spoonbill. It would be welcome to see more of the pink head, wing and or body against the dark background.

[Gabriela Plesea]

Dearest Artie,

First of all, my humble apologies for not visiting the Avian Forum as often as I did in the past. Some amazing images here by the way

The thumbnail of this frame stood out instantly, beautiful colours and the background is superb. Great techs. Love the pose from the Spoonbill, detail, and of course the splash! Well framed and superb processing, as expected.

Regarding gear, I too purchased a D850 recently but still attached to my D5 and D4. Glad you are enjoying your D5. And yes, I read your blog post

Warmest regards and hugs,

[Arthur Morris]

Dearest Artie,

First of all, my humble apologies for not visiting the Avian Forum as often as I did in the past. Some amazing images here by the way

The thumbnail of this frame stood out instantly, beautiful colours and the background is superb. Great techs. Love the pose from the Spoonbill, detail, and of course the splash! Well framed and superb processing, as expected.

Regarding gear, I too purchased a D850 recently but still attached to my D5 and D4. Glad you are enjoying your D5. And yes, I read your blog post

Warmest regards and hugs,

Hi Queen G, For static subjects the D850 kills the D5 but only by 10,000% ...

with love, artie

[Arthur Morris]

The colors are beautiful and as Issac said do pop against the dark back ground. The water splash adds to the scene. I like the motion blur on the wing tips but am surprised that 1/2500 did not stop the action. Wishing for a bit more angle on the Spoonbill. It would be welcome to see more of the pink head, wing and or body against the dark background.

Thanks John, I have lots of those :) But one of the reasons that I switched to Nikon was so that I would at least have a chance of getting some sharp images of birds flying right at me ...

with love, arite

[Gabriela Plesea]

I completely agree with you, Sir Arthur BTW I had a firmware upgrade on the D4 before my trip to the Kalahari last month. Unfortunately I did not get a chance to test it on BIF that much, avian species were scarce at the waterholes because of recent rains.

Pleasantly surprised to learn tonight that you have switched to the "dark side". Would love to see more images from you with the new gear and hopefully I can learn a thing or two. Most of my photographer friends use Canon, so I am on my own... Experimenting with settings all the time, happy for now with the results but there's always room for improvement.

Wishing you a happy evening dear SKA,

[Daniel Cadieux]

Glad you have been getting the types of images you were envisioning when you switched. The dark BG works really nicely. Good rich colours too!

[John Mack]

Bird really pops against the dark background. The pose is nice. My favorite part is the head on angle here.

[Jay Shah]

Artie,

What an image...and captured with Nikon..makes it even more special for me.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Artie, I like the full show of the wingspread, as well as the direct eye contact. Well timed for the lift off, and the trailing water adds interest. The Spoonbill pops really well against the dark BG.