A New Toy, AKA Fat Boy

[Arthur Morris]

The two images from which this composite was created were created on Lake Blue Cypress on 3 June 2022. Both were part of a 20 frame sequence, all razor sharp on the young bird's eye. I was aboard Clemens Van de Werf's flats boat. I recently purchased (rather extravagantly) The Sony 400mm f/2.8 GM lens to go along with my 600mm f/4. I have been amazed at how many uses I have found for it. There has been lots on my blog at www.BIRDSASART-Blog.com for the past few weeks. The speed came in handy on our very overcast morning: ISO: 6400, 1/2500 at f/2.8.

Despite the overcast conditions we had a great morning with a killer-red sunrise. Check out the YouTube video here.

As for the image, all comments are welcome and appreciated.

with love, artie

ps: You can learn lots more about the creation of this image in the blog post here.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Super colours sharp and nice timing. The wide aperture appears to have offered sufficient DOF for the two birds, lovely shot I like it.
Am I correct the male has orange eyes and the female yellow??

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks, Jon, Yes, the bird in the nest is slightly in front of the bird landing. I am fine with that. Note that the bird in flight is completely sharp at f/2.8. The difference in eye color is due to age. The bird in flight is a juvenile, the bird on the nest is a recently fledged juvenile.

with love, artie

[Dorian Anderson]

Flying bird looks great, especially the talons. I like the rusty tones on the young birds. I could see use for 400/2.8 in Florida where many of the subjects are big and approachable, but I'd never reach for one for the shooting I do.
Being broke absolves me of most gear decisions anyway!

[Steve Kaluski]

Nice shot Artie, I like the fact the sky has a hint of cloud.

TFS
Steve

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks, St4eve. The clouds were there :)

with love, artie

[William Dickson]

What's not to like here......Fab action with a very pleasing to the eye frame.....Well done Artie...it's a 'natural' eye catcher .....

Will

[Gabriela Plesea]

Very nice image Sir Arthur, love everything about it. Sky is superb. Well framed, lovely colours, great pose from the birds.
Glad you are enjoying your new gear, I am still waiting for the Z9 which I ordered two months ago...

Hope you have a lovely rest of the week-end,

Warmest regards,

[Steve Kaluski]

Thanks, St4eve. The clouds were there :)

I think the subtle touch adds much more, juxtapose to a clean blue sky here Artie.

[Brian Sump]

Cool action shot Artie. Nice getting both in the plane. Would've loved not having that stick in front of the young one but still a story being told.

Congrats on the new gear, I'm sure it's a peach of a lens!

[Arthur Morris]

Cool action shot Artie. Nice getting both in the plane. Would've loved not having that stick in front of the young one but still a story being told.

Congrats on the new gear, I'm sure it's a peach of a lens!

Thanks, Brian. The young one is the one in flight.

with love, artie

[Arthur Morris]

Very nice image Sir Arthur, love everything about it. Sky is superb. Well framed, lovely colours, great pose from the birds.
Glad you are enjoying your new gear, I am still waiting for the Z9 which I ordered two months ago...

Hope you have a lovely rest of the week-end,

Warmest regards,

Thanks, Gabriela. Good luck getting your Z9. Are you an NPS member?? You and many Z9 owners will want to check out the Nikon Z9 Guide for Wildlife Photographers right here on BPN.

with love, artie

[arash_hazeghi]

love the incoming one, when I went to lake blue cypress, wow it was more than 10 years ago! I used the 300 f/2.8 on the lake 90% of the time and the 500 f/4 10% of the time maybe. my best shots were with the 300! lucky to be shooting in FL!

have fun with the new toy!

[Paul Burdett]

Late to this one Artie, but love it. It's a composite right? (no one seems to have commented on that?) in which case you have blended them perfectly to create a dynamic action image. Great poses from both birds.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks, Paul. Yes, it is a composite of two images made in the same one second. That's why I forgot to mention it here :)

with love, artie

[Paul Burdett]

Artie. You did mention it is a composite in your original post.