Stilt

[Ian Cassell]

Canon 7D
Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L
1/1000 sec f/5.6 ISO 250 TV +.67

Levels, Sharpening, cloned stray duck in CS5

[LeeFortier]

Good timing.

It appears a little soft to me. Might need more sharpening.

Torn between a bit off the bottom or a vertical crop. We'll see what everyone else says.

I like the pose, reflection and overall colors.

[Ian Cassell]

Thanks, Lee. Now that you mention it, I agree that it could use a bit more sharpening. I'll be interested in others' opinions about the crop. I like it as the bird sort of divides the field into thirds.

[Jon Saperia]

My first reactions were the same as Lee's. That is, a bit off the bottom and a touch of sharpness. The pose is great. I always push to try to get contrast/sharpness in the whites and blacks which is a challenge. The reds are at 255 in some of the white areas and the yellow is next but I did not see 255 255 255 anywhere. The low ISO and 'relatively' low shutter tell me there was good light, so a 1250th/sec. might have also helped sharpness for a flight light image. I find when I get much below that speed for action shots of birds, my sharpness can go down.

/jon

[Kerry Perkins]

Ian, for me this would work better as a pano because of the motion and the fact that the bird feels too high in the frame. I would crop half of the water from the bottom. My first reaction was that I love the softness, but in an OOTB kind of way... Would agree with some more sharpening for a "legit" shot and the slightly faster ss to pick up detail in the whites.

[Ian Cassell]

Thanks for the comments, all. I tried the pano crop and agree that it looks better.