Sandhill Crane Takeoff Pano

[Doug Brown]

I got this Crane taking off at the Bosque last weekend. Cropping is always a bit of a challenge when dealing with subjects like this. I chose this version, but I'm open to suggestions!



Canon 1D Mark IV, 600mm, f/7.1, 1/1250, ISO 500, manual exposure, hand held

[Mital Patel]

beautiful one Doug. just loved that head angle and the smoothness of the feathers. both the legs up in air adds a lot to me to stare this crane longer :) congrats.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Doug, I like the take off posture, pin sharp, and the trailing water and splash add to the image. Comp wise, I would take a tad off the bottom, ( to take away the refected legs ) and I would add to the top. In this, I feel the pano is cramping his style.

[Deborah Hanson]

How do you get such great detail with manual exposure?
I like the lighting and movement in the image. The water is a nice touch and adds to the photo.
If mine I probably would have tried to lighten the shadow but I think that would take away from the golden light on the wings that works so well in your image. Again with a question - how do you know when to leave shadows in place or to try to lighten them? In your photo, the detail isn't lost in the shadows - is that part of the decision process?

Thanks
Deb

[Randy Stout]

Doug:

Nice action. The light quality very nice, wish the angle was a bit more behind you to help with the dark shadows.
Some one probably will object to the missing #7 primary feather on the right wing.

Comp is always a head scratcher when you want to preserve the water splashes and have a long bird in horizontal position like this. I would be tempted to add a small amount of canvas to the right, and a sliver to the top, and see how it looks.

Cheers

Randy

[Katie Rupp]

Hi Doug, I like the pano-crop and would prefer it without the feet reflection; The rich colors are beautiful and that, for me, includes the blue shadow. Of course it's sharp with lots of detail and great action.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Nice light and terrific freeze. I liked the pano crop. I see what you are saying about cropping being a challenge. You did well IMO.

[arash_hazeghi]

Excellent run Doug, love the details too, well done

[Doug Brown]

How do you get such great detail with manual exposure?
..... Again with a question - how do you know when to leave shadows in place or to try to lighten them? In your photo, the detail isn't lost in the shadows - is that part of the decision process?

Manual exposure for birds in flight assures a correct exposure of the bird against whatever BG it is flying against Deborah. You set your exposure for the bird and the BG no longer affects your exposure. This assumes that you have an unchanging amount of light on the bird (cloudless skies and no shadows).

Regarding shadows, it's nice to not have them. But when you do, you don't want them cutting across important parts of the bird. I thought the shadows created a little visual interest in this image without detracting from overall image quality. If I do have shadows, I like to have some detail visible. Strong shadows created by harsh light are what most bird photographers try to avoid.

[Mike Tracy]

Gorgeous light, posture, action and position in the frame. He feels a tad large in the frame for his size.

[Doug Brown]

Thanks for the input everyone! Here's a version with a little more room up top and on the right. How's it look?

[Steve Canuel]

Like the repost Doug. Nice timing on wing and leg position.