Close Encounters

[david cramer]

with a Sandhill Crane during evening fly in.

D3 with 500vr + 1.4 tc (700mm), f/8, 1/640, iso 1250

[Ofer Levy]

Lovely pose and gorgeous light. Would like to see this as a horizontal rather than a tight square.

[Harshad Barve]

This is lovley image , nice pose , wing details and light , another vote for regular horizontal crop
TFS

[Tom Wilberding]

Maybe lighten the eye a little, make it stand out more?
I like the blurry background, sharp bird, very dramatic pose. Can almost hear it croaking.

[Tony Whitehead]

Love the light, BG and calling. Agree on a little more room to fly into.

[Chris van Rooyen]

Beautiful light and setting! Agree on slightly more room on the left? Perhaps lighten the eye a bit as well?

[david cramer]

Thanks for the feedback. These are almost full frame shots, and the crane had just about flown out of the frame in the first post. I'll have to go back and add canvas to add room on the left. In the meantime, here is the shot two frames prior, where I still have room to leave for him to fly into.

[Joe Senzatimore]

Repost is a winner. The extra room was needed to make it work. Nice capture.

[Tony Whitehead]

I much prefer the second image, David. Angled nicely toward you and much better eye contact.

[Arthur Morris]

The repost is 1000 times better. In the first frame, the bird is AA (angled away)--actually turned away from you. That is pretty much an image killer for me. I am surpised that nobody mentioned that. It is also the reason that the eye looks dark--the head is turned away from the light.

[david cramer]

That is indeed why the eye is dark. I had already lightened it as much as possible without it getting destructive. I really enjoy the full body flat to the plane presentation, but the head is turned out of the plane and kills the image. It would have been a much better shot if taken 1/10 of a second sooner!

Thanks for the feedback, Artie and everyone.