Anhinga flight

[Fabs Forns]

Wako again, a lot of action there last week-end. Great Blues are on the second round of nesting, chicks are big and left to fend by themselves and new nests are getting started, with the corresponding mating and branch carrying.
Life goes on!

Model: NIKON D3
Lens, 500/4 VR plus 1.4X
ISO: 800
Aperture: 5.6
Shutter: 1/1000
Tripod mounted.
Canvas modified with Content Aware Scale in CS4

[Art Kornienko]

Love the tail feathers, seems to be a bit of noise around the head.

[Fabs Forns]

Love the tail feathers, seems to be a bit of noise around the head.

Thanks, Art, I may not have masked the noise reduction carefully :o
Thanks for pointing it out :)

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Agree about a little noise visible. The position of the wings and tail are super. I could not wish for more. I like the BG too. Congrats! :)

[arash_hazeghi]

Excellent shot, love the colors. Minor issue: there is an outline of sharpening artifacts or noise around the head.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Great exposure control and details. The open bill adds to it. Noise has been mentioned.

[Cindy Mead]

A marvelous view of the underwings and feather structure Fabs- I didn't realize their tails somewhat resemble those of a wild turkey until now. I really like the soft even light and sharp details along with the open bill. I always enjoy your flight images, this is a beaut. Kudos :)

[Bill McCrystyn]

Love this image. It reminds me of a dart flying through the air. The exposure is great and the BG very nice. I would just see what it looked like with a little more contrast or level down in the brown area behind the head down the neck. A giant flying dart - I love it.

[Fabs Forns]

Thanks, guys!

Now I see what you mean about the noise and it is in the front part of the image. It must be due to the extending canvas with the content aware scale, maybe since it increases the space, it also multiplies the noise. Interesting observation and something to keep n mind!

[Marina Scarr]

You did a great job capturing this BIF....my biggest challenge. The BG here is very appealing. There is great detail in all of the feathers, but I find the head less sharp. I do notice some very fine duplication of the tail feathers on the upper right by the tail.

[Fabs Forns]

I do notice some very fine duplication of the tail feathers on the upper right by the tail.

Yes, I did notice on close inspection after the fact, and it must be from the content aware scale. I had used it before without any problems. Note to self:

Not to edit late at night :D

Thanks, all.

[Nate Chappell]

Great detail in the blacks here Fabs, I like the flared tail and open beak too, it looks like he was flying just slightly away from you.

[Dave Barnes]

I like the feather detail and bird pops nicely from the OOF green BG. The head turned shows the eye and the symmetrical comp works here.
Its looks as though a bit of detail is lost around the head?

[Stu Bowie]

Excellent inflight capture showing a full wingspread and fanned tail Fabs. The exposure is spot on, and what a killer BG. Noise covered.

[Lance Peters]

Love the pose - excellent, great all round :)

[Lana Hays]

Fabs
One of the most interesting flight images that I've seen in a while. Love the dark green BG and especially the position of the bird. Certainly shows the flexibility of the neck. Absolutely beautiful.

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Beautifully captured Fab and I particularly like the extended neck and open beak. One of the best flight captures of this species.

[Brian Wong]

Hi Fabs!

Very appealing! I like the color combination and the very graphic feel to the composition. I see some strange artifacts behind the tail, and maybe flying slightly away? But I would take this any day ... it is a very strong image!