Please Give This One Your Best Shot!

[Arthur Morris]

On the recently concluded Bosque IPT with the Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens and the EOS-1D MIV. ISO 50. Evaluative metering +1 stop: 1/8 sec. at f/10 in Tv Mode as per "The Guide to Pleasing Blurs" :)

Don't be shy; all comments welcome.

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi Arthur, I love all the motion in this one and the warm colors too. They are also framed nicely within the comp.

[denise ippolito]

My favorite from the trip Artie. Very nicely blurred motion and the colors are like gold. What I like most about this is that as the viewer you are not 100% sure if this is one bird or several birds.:)

[Patrick Sparkman]

As mentioned, I love the gold color and the etherial nature of the birds. I also like how the light colored streaks on the bottom anchor the image.

[Kerry Perkins]

Hi Artie, love the golden tones and the motion in the blur. I like how the cranes fill the frame. Cool!

[Nancy Bell]

The BG is like spun gold. Being able to discern crane heads at one end and those fabulous dangling legs at the other allow the viewer to know these are birds even if they don't know a thing about cranes. And of course the ghostly blurred wings provide the flow and motion. A tiny bit more room in the front?

[Gary Hamilton]

Beautiful blur, Artie. Gorgeous BKGD color and the hints of wing details really keep my eyes glued to the image. Denise beat me to the punch as to how many birds are shown here--I'm going to say three. Agree with Nancy re: adding a touch more room in front of birds.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks all for your kind comments. A bit more room in front would be A-OK with me if I had it. I was glad to fit the whole family in the frame. On the first two images in the three frame series I was not even close.

As there are eight legs and eight wings in the image I am thinking that this was a family of four :)

Actually that leads me to the one thing that bugs me about the image: the head of the left-most bird has gone to mush and is not even close to discern-able. IAC, I loved it from the instant I saw it on the LCD and still do. For an interesting discussion check out the "Which Do You Prefer: Soft or Sharp?" blog post here.

One guy posted a comment trashing the image stating that blurs have no place in nature photography. Ordinarily I do not like to stifle comment or free speech but decided against giving such the guy a platform as his comments were simply rude. (Once you approve one post subsequent posts do not need to be approved...)

IAC, thanks again for your kind comments here.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Artie, I love the colors and the amount of blur, and the streaks of light at the bottom also. I enjoyed reading the Soft or Sharp blog:)

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Cheryl. I forgot to mention that it was Denise who inspired me to experiment with flight shots in the 1/4 to 1/8 second range when she said to the IPT group: the slower you work the lower your keeper rate will be but you may wind up with something very special.

[Patti Edens]

Beautiful colors and motion here. I like it a lot and think I would have liked it even better with one bird, but maybe not.

[Indranil Sircar]

This is beautiful motion, Artie. I like how the birds are aligned as if racing off the block! Beautiful light and color.

[Arthur Morris]

Beautiful colors and motion here. I like it a lot and think I would have liked it even better with one bird, but maybe not.

I have lots with one bird including some new ones from this year that I will post. For me, the four birds in the frame and the huge blur of wings is what makes this one special :)

[Christopher Miller]

This is beautiful, Artie! Blur photography at it's best! :) Very nice sense of motion and the golden colors take it over the top.