Sandhill Cranes

[Nancy Bell]

Photographed in Nebraska during a freezing cold morning in March. In-camera blur @ 1/15, f8 using the Canon 40D and Canon 300 f4 L IS + 1.4 teleconverter.

[denise ippolito]

Nancy, Those are a lot of birds! Where are you off to next to photograph? Anyway back to your image. I love the colors and the amount of blur. I do wish the sun were more in a ROT position. I'm undecided about the tree line. I kinda wish it were a bit more in focus but I do like having an anchor of some sort. Still, I wish it were mine:)

[Nancy Bell]

Thanks, Denise. Actually that is a full moon setting. I should have said that. I did put the trees in there for an anchor. I'll be in Brazil for the last 10 days of September :).

[Arthur Morris]

Yes, blurs need to be accurately focused. And yes, that is one pile of cranes. At Bosque you will only see a few cranes in the air at once. I saw lots in the air when I did a Canon Photo Safari show on the Platte River but not this many.

Is that the sun (or the moon)? I wish that that big round celestial body were not so close to the middle of the frame; that's why they made the rule of thirds!

Despite all of the above that is one cool image.

Were you panning with the birds or did you pre-compose and let them fly through the frame?

[Cheryl Slechta]

Nancy, what a beautiful sight! The moon and colors are beautiful and I like the feeling that they are swirling around in the top of the frame, like a vortex. Very neat:)

[denise ippolito]

Nancy, I wasn't sure but I like it more now that I know it's a full moon;) Have a great time in Brazil and bring back lots of images!!

[Arthur Morris]

Ah, a moon. I got cross-posted :)

[Nancy Bell]

I pre-composed and let the birds fly past. Um...when I took this photo I was not aware of the rule-of-thirds and lots of other good stuff :confused:. But now I'm learning.

[Judy Howle]

I really like the colors and it's a very nice capture! I'd love to have seen it myself.

[Mark Fuge]

Nice image and composition, Nancy.

Very nice color and like the full moon. Agree a little cropping on the left would be nice, to offset it a little, but still and awesome image.

I remember the site well from my semi-annual business trips to Denver, in April and October, during the spring and fall migrations. While I got there on the end of the event, there were still more birds than I could count or shoot!!! ;) One of my personal favorite memories, as it was the first time I encountered that many different species of birds in one place in such quantities.

[Kerry Perkins]

There is nothing like a sky full of birds! Very nice moment captured. I think the tree line works fine for an anchor. I would suggest just a wee bit of noise reduction. Very cool!

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Nancy, Knowing what you know now, exactly how would you frame this one?

[Nancy Bell]

I would put the moon just inside the line marking the left third of the photo and have the cranes extend farther to the right. By the time the moon got closer to the horizon the sun was rising and changing the light too much so I don't know how to achieve that compostion. Am I missing something?

[Arthur Morris]

Lower left third would have eliminated the trees. Upper left third would have added more trees. Both would have been good.

Do you know if you were focused on the moon or the birds? I an guessing moon.

[Nancy Bell]

Artie, thank you for the mini-lesson. Yes, I focused on the moon. And thank you all for looking and your comments!

[Arthur Morris]

YAW. The word on the street is to set up the composition that you want and then focus manually on the birds.... It does seem here that the birds are not sharply focused. Blurred subject generally need to in sharp focus even though they are blurred :)