Bosque Ice Bracelets

[Doug Brown]

I went to the Bosque with Kristin Wilkinson and Keith Bauer on New Year's Day. Not sure what the temperature was exactly but it was pretty cold! Many of the cranes had to work to free their legs from the ice that had formed on the water's surface overnight. When this crane took off, he took a couple of souvenirs from the crane pool with him (check out his legs).



Canon 7D, 600mm, f/7.1, 1/1250, ISO 400, manual exposure, hand held

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Doug...liked the wing position adn the head angle. Well timed shot...and yes those souvenirs look great.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Great pose, wing position and BG but the ice on the legs makes it special. Did you blur the BG a lot?

[Randy Stout]

Doug:
Very interesting natural history shot. I wonder if they ever get frozen in place and have to wait to thaw out? Have you seen them pecking at the ice to free themselves?

The bird itself is excellent, nice exposure and angle, with excellent display of both wings. Perhaps a shade oversharpened for my taste. I might try a version with the background at a lower luminosity and possibly slightly lower contrast. There is just enough there to distract me a bit. (but of course, I am easily distracted :D)

Randy

[Doug Brown]

A fair amount (more than normal). There was a horizontal line running behind the far wing that I could have cloned out instead of blurring. Does something look funny?

[Axel Hildebrandt]

A fair amount (more than normal). There was a horizontal line running behind the far wing that I could have cloned out instead of blurring. Does something look funny?

I wouldn't say that it looks funny, just quite blurred since the BG does not seem to be very far away.

[Phil Ertel]

Hi Doug, What an interesting image which I like. I agree with Axel that the ice on the legs of the bird makes this special. The bird look just right to me. I find it well exposed and sharp with a nice pose and eye contact. Randy's suggestion on reducing the luminosity of the background is interesting and might be worth a look. Thanks for sharing.

[Lana Hays]

Doug....
Excellent getting the "ice bracelets". Nice detail and color. It has a definite 3D appearance with the blurred BG. Although I like it.....my first impression was if it had some extra blurring.....almost looks too blurred. I don't think I would notice it if it didn't have the 3D appearance. Well done on this one.

[Peter Farrell]

Excellent capture. Evertything looks spot on. The ice on the legs is a nice addition.
One of the first things I noticed was the great BG. Then I read the comments and went back to the image and I still like the BG. I guess thats the benefit of a less experienced eye.
Peter

[denise ippolito]

Doug, The "ice bracelets" are fantastic and make this image quite special. Very nice pose and sharpness.

[William Currie]

Nice image Doug they must have tough skin to let ice form on it :D Brad

[Danny J Brown]

Awesome shot, Doug. Not only are the ice bracelets very cool but you really nailed this one, especially the head area. I thought the background looked different here and allowed the crane to pop more but I was instantly wondering what might have been done to it in PP. I probably would have found the original background to be fine, but who knows?

[James Salywoda]

Awesome shot Doug I too love the ice as its very unique.

[Malcolm Benn]

Lovely image, the flight angle and posture are perfect and the ice bracelets are quite unique. I like the 3D effect that the added blur to the background creates.

[Doug Brown]

I have to tell you that I've got a number of images from that morning where the mountains were a little further away and the BG looked just like this one. Nonetheless, I reworked the image. I darkened the BG and reduced the opacity of the blurred BG layer. I like it better now! :)

[Doug Brown]

One more image; here's the reprocessed image with the BG blurring removed entirely.

[gary rouleau]

Doug I have no problem with the background that is a typical one of the Bosque.
Love that wing position and the bracelets.
Cheers
gary

[Doug Brown]

The ice can get pretty thick. Here's another view; not the greatest image, but it highlights the thickness of the ice.

[Stu Bowie]

Great take off posture Doug, and the sharpness looks good to me. I still vote for your OP regarding the BG, and of course, the ice on the legs takes this over the top. Well captured.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Doug - great capture and love the icicles :)
must say the unblurred BG looks good enough for me, you did a good job of blurring it though.

[arash_hazeghi]

Very nice Doug, the ice really makes this photo special and memorable. well done on the techs, I prefer the one with no BG blur, it has a more natural look to it.

[Danny J Brown]

Hi Doug - I think the "As Shot" background looks great! Also, thanks for the close-up of the ice bracelets - those things are crazy looking.

[Hendri Venter]

I like the flight angle , wing position and iced legs. Something very different and not found around every corner. Opportunity very well used Doug. Splendid image.

[Greg Basco]

Doug, cool shot. I definitely vote for the in-camera BG; it's just fine.

Cheers,
Greg Basco

[Krijn Trimbos]

The icy socks are so cool! Of course the wing position, BG, sharpness and light are all great! Well done!