Moon over Sandhill

[dave v]

Canon XSi with a Canon 400L f5.6.

[david cramer]

Nice composition and sweet light on the sandhill. The bird's a little dark, but I think you'd lose the effect if you lightened it.

[Raymond Barlow]

cool shot, and congrats on some great timing.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Great capture, I like the wing position, light and moon in the BG. The bird looks a bit dark on my monitor.

[Alfred Forns]

Bg is way cool Sure wish the moon was further left and the bird right a bit !!! Would lighten the bird just a little but do like the warmth !!! Excellent !!!

[dave v]

Thanks for looking folks.

I'll see what I can do about the brightness of the bird.

[Doug Brown]

Great pose and love the OOF moon and clouds! I agree that I'd like a bit of separation between the bird and the moon with the moon on the left and the bird on the right. I would also like to see the bird a little brighter with the eye more distinct. Still a very nice image.

[Vincent Grafhorst]

Dave, though I can understand some of the comments made above, IMO this is a big winner and one of the most atmospheric images posted here recently. I love it!

[DarrenMcKenna]

Great shot Dave, not a typical photo but that's the beauty of it.

[dave v]

Thanks again everyone.
I gave it a shot at making the bird a little brighter.

I probably should have just burned the bird instead of selecting, and then adjusting.

[Mike Lentz]

I agree with, Vincent! Great vision seeing and putting yourself in a position to get this image! I'd be very happy to have this one!

[dave v]

I agree with, Vincent! Great vision seeing and putting yourself in a position to get this image! I'd be very happy to have this one!

Hey Mike, What's up?

You're right about the "Getting into position" part.
The Park Ranger would not have been happy with me at the way I was driving to get to the spot for this shot.
Fortunately for me, at this time of year, there was only one other car in the area, and they were going the other way.

[Vincent Grafhorst]

Dave that repost looks even better!!!

[Kirk Benson]

Beautiful shot Dave, great light and the moon and clouds are so sweet. Love the repost even more. I'll see if I can pull this off some day :D Very well done!

[Tony Whitehead]

Very cool, Dave - repost a good step up.

[dave v]

Thanks again guys.

I get caught up sometimes PP my photos.
I belong to a camera club that has a salon that goes by PSA rules.
In those rules, you can make global changes, but not spot changes.
So I did the first shot with the club's salon in mind, and thinking that it was good enough.
With your push to lighten it up, the shot now looks better.