Horned Lark

[Kurt Bowman]

Today at Pawnee National Grasslands...it was very windy

Mark IV
500mm w/1.4 tc
1/800 at f/5.6
ISO 100

[Scott Frye]

Nice shot of this lark and the background is great -- they are very jumpy little birds. The bird is too centered for my taste and cloning some space from the left side would bring the bird a bit off center.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the look-back pose, open beak and the horns. The perch is a bit overpowering, I might crop some off the bottom.

[Ryan Schain]

Cool shot! I agree with axel on the crop, and I think the shot could stand a bit more sharpening. I would have also used at least ISO 400 to increase my shutter speed.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

. I would have also used at least ISO 400 to increase my shutter speed.

Good point, with the Mark IV, ISO 400 is my standard ISO, that way you can stop down to f/8, which usually helps with sharpness when a 1.4x TC is attached.

[Kurt Bowman]

Thanks for the comments and suggestions. BTW, I was using auto ISO. The 7D was the first Canon from my knowledge to offer it, and it is part of the Mark IV also, but with the Mark IV, I can set the minimum and maximum ISO. Maybe I should change the minimum to 400 when shooting birds if I want to continue to shoot Av or Manual with auto ISO. Again thanks for the coments, I probably wouldn't have thought about trying that without them!