White Ibis

[Doug Brown]

This is another photo taken in fading light after a day on James Shadle's boat. We were in waders standing in knee-deep water. It was my first good photo of a White Ibis in flight. The BG really makes this photo IMO.



Canon 1D Mark III, 500mm + 1.4x, f/5.6, 1/1000, ISO 800, no flash, hand held

[Tony Whitehead]

Lovely whites and eye contact. The focus is perfect and, I agree, the BG is beautiful. Wondering about a little less room above and a bit more below as an alternative comp. Good job, Doug

[Tony House]

Great pose nice and sharp from head to feet too, like you say, B/G looks superb....

Nice work.
Tony

[Keith Carver]

A great study in whites, Doug, plus I think that bird is looking at you! Killer BG, congrats! Bird position in frame looks good to me as is.

[Mike Tracy]

Love the eye contact, nice job on the whites and killer back ground. Wish for more DOF on the far wing and the tip of his bill looks a little bright.

[Doug Brown]

Unfortunately there's no free lunch in flight photography Mike. I was hoping for a shutter speed of 1/1000 or faster. I was already wide open at ISO 800. I didn't want to push my ISO any higher, so I settled for slightly less DOF. I feel like this image is sharp where it needs to be.

[Ramon M. Casares]

I agree with you Doug, ISO 800 is more than enought, I think the final result is simply outstanding! Great pose, light, exposure, BG, comp, and killer detail. Congratulaitons!

[susanschermer]

The details in the whites, the eye-contact, and the BG make this image outstanding. How did you get to 700mm? I know you carry a 600. With a 1.4 that's a really tough hand-hold. You must have great muscles and a steady hand.

[Doug Brown]

It's a 500 with a 1.4x. I do hand hold the 600 too, but it's not nearly as fun! :D

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Great light, wing position, BG. Higher shutter speed would have been great but since you were already pushing the ISO it was probably a good decision.

[Arthur Morris]

Lovely as noted above. In an ideal world I would have preferred the far wing a bit sharper. Sweet, sweet background.

[Mike Tracy]

I am confused about your hesitation to increase the ISO in this particular image. If you had you could have stopped down which would have given you a better chance at maintaining the far wings sharpness. If noise was a concern the MKIII handles it well and it's been my experience it does not manifest itself in whites until really pushed. If your concern was it becoming apparent in the black tips there is already a loss in detail so selectively using noise reduction would have addressed that. You also had a superb background that lends itself well to softening with any introduced noise.

I have been shooting Florida's large birds in flight for years and find I would rather stop down to capture the breadth of their wingspan and deal with some increased noise from cranking up the ISO.

I think it's a wonderful image but those are my my observations and 2 cents.

[Doug Brown]

Hi Mike. I didn't mean to sound defensive. I appreciate the input!

[John Blumenkamp]

Beautiful capture Doug... great colors and light, and it's sharp in the right places, making that eye and the rest of the Ibis pop in my opinion. Congrats!

[Mike Tracy]

Input appreciation acknowledged :)