Canon 40D, 100-400L
1/2500, f/5.6, ISO500, Center Weight Avg Metering, 9:16am.
Snowy was scampering around wildly. Hate the grass and head position but liked the image otherwise. C&C welcomed! :)
Bill, Nice shot. I wouldn't have noticed the forground grass, had you not mentioned it. I especially like the way the wings draw you into the head. Where was your shooting location?
Norm
The grass is removed easily enough, but it doesn't really bother me that bad.
Since the subject is running, I don't mind the head position as much either. After all, he is looking where he his going. A head turn would be nice, but with the justification for the direction the bird is looking, I don't think it is a killer.
The whites are a touch hot on the back of the bird, but there is enough detail there that I think you can recover some of it. I tried my old way of using a multiplying layer and got some back. I Just got APTATS-1 and there is a method included for highlight recover that I have yet to use, but it is likely better than what I have been doing.
It looks to me like the focus grabbed the wing instead of the eye. Some selective sharpening could probably improve that a bit.
I really like the movement and sense of purpose that the bird seems to have in this image and I think that could be brought out a bit more with a little bit more room on the right.
Hi Norman, I was at a pond in Palmetto, Fl, just down the road from me.
Jim, thanks for the pointers. All your suggestions are fully justified and I may try this image using some. I would like the eyes and beak to be brighter also and I will have to definitely sharpen the eyes at the same time. Thanks for taking the time for pointers. bf :)