The Race

[Ian Cassell]

Canon 7D
Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L
1/5000 f/5.6 ISO 400 HH

S/H and sharpening in CS5
NR on BG in Noisware Pro

It would have been nice if the middle bird's head was clear, but I still like it.

[Svante Larsson]

Interesting behavioural image and it sure gives a feeling of movement. Agree that it would have been much stronger if the head of the middle bird had been visible. Then I am not sure if the birds should be this grey or if one could possibly up the exposure a bit (there are some areas already that look rather hot).

[Ian Cassell]

Thanks, Svante. The back bird IS grey and the front and middle ones are dirty white. It made for an interesting exposure challenge.

[Clyde Hopper]

Hi Ian, I like the entire photo....untill i recognized the coot in the bg...I'm not sure if it adds, or hurts the image .I do know ,my eye keeps going to it ...now..:(

[John Chardine]

Looks like you have three China Geese there Ian. The light is sweet and you captured some good action. It would have been really nice to see all three heads! I might give a bit more room at the top but I like the pano crop.

[Ian Cassell]

Thanks!

Clyde, I thought about cloning out Mr. Coot, but decided to leave it as is. Maybe I'll try it after all and see how it looks.

I have a bit of room on the original, John, so I'll put back a bit on top and see.

[Tom Redd]

Ian, lovely image and yes I agree with your assessment of the middle bird, but still love the lighting, action and the pan crop. I would clone out the coot, IMHO. Very nice.