Roseate Spoonbill and stick

[gail bisson]

Did a boat tour with Ron Bielefeld this past April. This spoonbill flew so close to the boat I felt like I could reach out and touch him.
This is a FF image with 3% added canvas to RHS and bottom.
Canon 1 DX and 600mm
ISO 800 F 7.1 SS 1/3200
PP- Added canvas, LR sliders.In CS5, NR to BG, levels,reduced highlight on the whites, DE and TC to bird at 15% opacity.
Comments and critiques always learned from and appreciated with thanks,
Gail

[annmpacheco]

This is a beauty Gail, so well done. Love the IQ, the colors, the stick , and the BG... There is a small brown spot on top of back, I'd lassooohhh that bugger outta here! wonderful work...

[Glenn Pure]

Fantastic flight angle and bonus stick which lifts this quite a bit. While the light looks good here, overall, it isn't working for me. Having seen other shots of this species on BPN (but no personal experience), I feel the colour and tone are a bit thin on the bird, especially the back, top of neck and top of bill. Otherwise, remarkably good DOF for such a close encounter and great background. The canvas extension has given a nicely balanced composition.

[David N Smith]

Excellent shot Gail. Detail is superb.

[Isaac Grant]

This is really nice Gail. I know the spot you went well and I know how close they fly by in that spot. Great pose here with a perfect head angle and wings down. I think the colors are spot on here. Your shot shows the soft and beautiful pink that these birds have. Most shots of this species I think are over saturated. I do wish the head was clear of the rear wing as that would make this shot even better. I agree with Ann that I would quickly clone out that little spot on the back.

[Juan Tolentino]

Really nice Gail. I love Everything on this image, IQ, pose, background.....Very well done!


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[arash_hazeghi]

Excellent dialog of habitat and nesting material that adds a behavioral touch, sharp with good details but I wish the wings were fully down or up and had cleared the neck, the frames before or after this would have been killer

TFS

[David Policansky]

Another wonderful image. I love the water drops, too.

[Glenn Conlan]

One of the better Spoonbill postings I have seen. The detail and exposure is great. The stick is a bonus with a nice soft BG

[Joseph Przybyla]

Beautiful bird, nicely shown. Colors and detail look spot on, the stick adds much to the image. Composition works well, thank you for sharing.

[Paul Burdett]

Hi Gail. Not much more to add, except that it's a stunning photo...i'd be happy with that hanging on my wall!

[David Salem]

Man! Talk about a close flyby! Looks great Gail! Love the killer details in the head and eye and the colors of the bird look perfect to me. BG and the stick in the beak round this one off to be a real solid action frame. Great job!