Sandhill over head

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

D3 300f2.8+TC20EIII (600mm) 1/2000 at f/6.3 -0.67EV ISO400 HH early light
cropped to 75% of full, LAB curves, detailing, lifted shadows, cloned other bird's wingtips

About a stop under exposed on this surprise flyby while hiking in Yellowstone. Was very pleased with the AF with this combo.

Does the symmetric comp work?

Thanks for looking.

Cheers,

-Michael-

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Michael,

This is a beautiful species, as you know BIF can be very challenging, but fun. Like a video game, I love it. 600MM HH is a challenge IMO, hard to get things critically sharp. Tripods are best at this focal range. Did you pan the subject and where was the point of focus (e.g., head neck etc.). In this situation, you must control the bright areas and set the exposure accordingly. Looks like the whites on the face are hot, might check it out. There are threads in the education forum on how to recover detail in over-exposed areas. Considering you were hiking, nice capture. It would be stronger if the light were better distributed - much of the bird is in shadows. The image needs to be sharper as well. I did not see sharpening in your workflow. The placement is tight too, need more room to breath IMO.

I like the open wings and flight position, very fluid and a great moment in nature. I can hear them coming. Yellowstone is beautiful I have been there only once. Do you have more to share. Thanks and keep em coming.

[John Chardine]

I like the idea of this image Michael. To make it work the subject has to be sharper. Not all images that have been reduced for the web and sharpened already respond to more sharpening but this one does. I used Topaz In Focus but Ps Smart sharpen would work as well. This suggests that the original full-res version will be a piece of cake.

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Jeff, John,

Thanks much for the comments (not sure I understand the new thank you things). Yeah, somehow I think I forgot the sharpening part... thanks for pointing that out.

Cheers,

-Michael-

[John Chardine]

Michael- maybe that's why the image responded so well to sharpen- it hadn't been sharpened before.

The Thank You for this post is just a quick way of acknowledging that you have seen the post and am thanking the poster. The idea is to make threads tighter and more concise.