Horned Lark.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I came across a pair of Horned Larks yesterday afternoon at a local beach and was thrilled that one of them allowed a close approach. This one was also wary at first but a careful low and slow approach did the trick and it stuck around for a long time, letting me follow in its steps while it foraged for food on the ground. The BG is distant water above transitioning to beach sand below.

Canon 40D + 100-400L @400mm, manual exposure, evaluative metering (forgot EC equivalent, but metered off grass and histogram checked), 1/400s., f/6.3, ISO 800, natural light, handheld, FF. OOF grass blade cloned out from upper back area.

[Rene Quenneville]

wow. i love the Colors and mood. very sharp.

[Arthur Morris]

Hey Dan, If you can get close to these birds with a careful approach you ought to consider a new career as cat burglar. Superb on all counts. It looks very painterly.

[Martin Wallis]

I love the soft light & beautiful bokeh, great detail and sharpness. Nothing to improve upon technically. Possibly a better HA would be on the wish list. Cheers

[Manos Papadomanolakis]

a beautiful pose with a great low angle!

[Arthur Morris]

a beautiful pose with a great low angle!

Excellent point Martin--more parallel to the imaging sensor would have been better here but we were all captivated by the soft light and the loverly bird.

[Randy Stout]

Daniel:

Nicely done as mentioned above. The shooting angle is low enough here, that perhaps the bird thought you were some form of scruffy ground hog, eh :D

Cheers

Randy