Male Sharptails establishing breeding territory.

[kevin Hice]

One of many Sharptail photos on the Lek last winter. Appreciate any critiques and suggestions.Post in Dpp 4 ,Photoshop ,levels,curves lighten the eye.

Canon 5D Mark 1V
Lens 500 F4
Manual exposure
Av 7.1
3200
ISO 2500

[Glenn Pure]

Wow, this is great action and excellent that both birds are pretty sharp here. Love the detail and patterning on the bird in the air. The absence of almost any detail other than the birds makes this one stand out for me in a nice way but the few bits of grass coming through the snow are effective. I'm less sure about the dark blob in the upper left and would be inclined to wash it out or clone it if your ethics permit.

[kevin Hice]

Thanks Glen ,I wasn't sure about the rock in the upper left corner could stay or go.

[gail bisson]

I agree 100% with Glenn's critique.
I would evict the rock in LUC in a "new York minute!"
The grasses in the RLC really add a lot to this image.
Birds are sharp and look good. Love the position of the right hand grouse. I wonder if you can tease a bit more detail out the the whites in the underwing?
Very nice,
Gail

[annmpacheco]

Great action shot you have here, i would like to see a clean BG except for the bottom grass coming up through the snow. The up jump grouse and those open talon feet are fabulous, well done

[Daniel Cadieux]

How cool! I agree with removing the object at left, and also the oof lines above the grasses at right edge. This would eliminated distractions, that are more apparent with plain white BGs. Excellent interaction.

[arash_hazeghi]

pretty cool interaction, good details. the image is a bit contrasty on my screen I'd reduce the contrast and try to recover a touch texture in the snow and under wings and also clone out the OOF rock

TFS

[kevin Hice]

I appreciate all the comments and reworked the photo . Took out the out of focus rock and lighten some of the bright whites under the wings. Recropped Tried getting more details in the whites but didn't change much. I tried several post processing techniques think this one was the best of four.

[kevin Hice]

Thanks Daniel I think it is better than the first,again thanks.

[kevin Hice]

Thanks Ann, and love your Photos.

[kevin Hice]

Thanks Gail I appreciate the suggestions and think it is better wish I could have done better on the whites .

[kevin Hice]

Thanks Glenn for the suggestions did try again and think it is better.