Great Snipe on the lek high on the mountain

[Brutus Ostling]

, Gallinago media

These are rare ones to get on the lek, this Summer I spent two nights in a hiding tent up over the tree level - a long walk. The night with fantastic light they didn't show up until 11.30 pm, when the sun had gone down - and they played for fifteen minutes. The other night - heavy rain, low-light, raining into my lens so I had to clean it inside the tent every ten minutes - they started already at 7.30 pm and played in the rain and wind for three- hours. They are hard to see, you look and look and have to follow the sound to discover them. But I was fantastically happy with four-five mages to my book. I was really lucky, they are rarely photographable like this. Up close to the polar circle there is light around the clock.I know the crop downside is just on the limit, but you don't always have time to get everything right.

ISO 1600 or 2000, a full-page for the book, chapter about "Playing - for death or life"

PS to Al: I am gonna get that sharpening program, so I havn't it yet.

[Dan Walker]

Great image Brutus. Awsome pose and behavior. bird looks sharp, but is a little tight in the frame. I might do some noise reduction to the background. am curious about shooting data.

Dan

[Brutus Ostling]

THe next photo is when the closer on goes up in the air, maybe in the next thread. I was so happy just to get them, it was cold as it was over the tree limit zone, but when you have action you don't bother

[Brutus Ostling]

Sorry, this is the crop for the book, yes, there is a little bit more around, but not below though. In a book you can crop much more than when you exhibit just one photo on the net or at a gallery- I have written about that earlier.

ISO 1600, 1/500 sec, f. 5 (maximum aperture is 4, but I had to stop down 2/3, it may even be a manual focus photo, I remember I had to do that for a great lot photos because of the conditions, rain, humidity. Lens 500/4.

[Manos Papadomanolakis]

Hi Brutus,
Really it`s a bit tight but I Iike this!
Great wing position,details and pose

[Raul Quinones]

Awesome picture, but you already knew that. Great pose.

[Brutus Ostling]

A little bit more space - I don't have the original here
Best,
Brutus

I may prefer the "mirror" photo myself.

[Simon Bennett]

Fantastic behaviour shot Brutus, dedicated noise reduction add-on like neat image would render the background silky smooth.

[Doug Brown]

Really nice stuff Brutus! Fantastic pose! Agree about the NR.

[Tony Whitehead]

Great shot, Brutus. nothing to add to what has been mentioned already. Knowing it was raining explains the pales drops in the BG but otherwise may remove them

[Ed Cordes]

Great image. While I realize it was raining, I would still clone out the bright white spot over the back.

[Alfred Forns]

Really nice Brutus !!! Fantastic pose and clean bg !!! Just the extra room if you have it !!! Big Congrats on this one !!!!

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

This is beautiful Brutus. Thanks for sharing.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Cool find, pose, details and BG. Another vote for NR on the BG and too bad you don't have more room for the 'virtual legs'. Thanks for sharing!

[Markus Jais]

fantastic shot. great light and wonderful wing pose. I agree with the others on a little NR on the BG.

will your book also be available in English? I am also waiting for your eagles book. according to amazon it should be available in October.

Markus

[Jay Tan]

Great catch there Brutus! I prefer the 2nd face to face image which presents a more interesting perspective of the birds. The rain drops is a nice bonus.

[Juan Aragonés]

Fantastic behavioral images Brutus. I do not mind about the noise, it is easy to fix, because the poses are really good. Terrific low angles. Can´t wait to see a version of the book in english!

[Manos Papadomanolakis]

Fantastic behavioral images Brutus. I do not mind about the noise, it is easy to fix, because the poses are really good. Terrific low angles. Can´t wait to see a version of the book in english!

Me too,
I want to see the new book in english:)
I want to buy it;)

[Raymond Barlow]

extraordinary image Brutus, suggest some work on the noise in the bg, and some more environment. if you have it., I too would be interested in your book, from what I have seen in here, you are a fantastic wildlife photographer.

[Simon Bennett]

Hi Brutus, With the mentions of noise reduction I have taken the liberty of processing your wonderful image through Neat Image noise reduction. I used default settings applied to the whole image.

[Brutus Ostling]

Thanks!:D
Brutus

I have now found the original, from the beginning I wanted the full image without cropping as a spread in my nwxt book. I had forgotten how it looked like, but I remember that the designer had a way of beginning the chapters or parts of the book, and he needed this one cropped like this as a rather strong one-page-photo besides the introductory text to the chapter. When you build a book you have to think about the pages, what follows on the next spread, before that spread etcetera. And the colors from one spread to another must match in a way or other.

I had one photo with two be-eaters, taken just three weeks before printing, which I really wanted to have in the book. But however we tried I had to give it up and use two other bee-eaters instead. But I may use it in another book, perhaps.

The original crop with environment to the right I am now gonna use for one of the exhibitions next week in Stockholm (besides a capercaille-photo also on the lek with 8-9 hens).

Hi Brutus, With the mentions of noise reduction I have taken the liberty of processing your wonderful image through Neat Image noise reduction. I used default settings applied to the whole image.

[Johannes Glännman]

Jag förstår inte hur du gör, men jag ser fram emot din nya bok. Riktigt riktigt bra bilder du visar hela tiden och helt i min smak... Älskar hur du fått med regndropparna i luften...

That was swedish :)

Cheers // Johannes

[Brutus Ostling]

Hi - or in Swedish: hej Johannes!!::D

Greetings (hälsningar)
Brutus



That was swedish :)

Cheers // Johannes[/QUOTE]

[Linda Robbins]

Fantastic pose. You worked hard for these images and were handsomely rewarded! The noise reduction improved this wonderful image, but I do wish for a bit more room all around, especially for the virtual legs. Will your book be available in English?

[Nikolay Staykov - shotlandetsa]

Really amazing photo and captured moment with spirit! The reposted images are also very good!