Stilt of the Night

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Had an amazing 5 day journey from the west coast of Fl to the east coast shooting the whole time. Met up with Melissa Groo and a few others and had as much fun as is possible. We found a water hole on this night that had stilts so we drug ourselves thru the muck and mud and shot to sundown. This was close to the end of the day into the night providing us with some glorious light. My MIII is in the shop again (yes I know) so I shot with my 40D and was re confirmed that it too is a pretty amazing body.
Canon 40D 300mm 2.8 L lens w/2x
ISO 640 f7.1@1/500 tripod
cropped about 10% for slight rotation

[arash_hazeghi]

Nice pose and you got the red eye too! nice iridescent blacks. whites a tad hot and details don't look very sharp but this a very challenging bird to get sharp with 2X TC so I don't blame you

[gail bisson]

I am sorry we missed each other in Florida!
Great low POV- you must have been as muddy as the stilt's foot!
I wish your SS had been a tad higher to get this guy tack sharp. Love the pose and the iridescence in the black feathers.
Gail

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Nice pose and you got the red eye too! nice iridescent blacks. whites a tad hot and details don't look very sharp but this a very challenging bird to get sharp with 2X TC so I don't blame you

Yes I am with you both on the sharpness. I wished i had my MIII so I coulda boosted the ISO

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Nice pose and you got the red eye too! nice iridescent blacks. whites a tad hot and details don't look very sharp but this a very challenging bird to get sharp with 2X TC so I don't blame you

Ok I took it right back from start. Worked the whites, blurred the bg and sharpened the bird again. Any better? I know its not tack sharp but how bout the rest of the issues? Thanks

[jack williamson]

Everything looks better in the repost. I like the angle of the bird in the frame.

Jack

[arash_hazeghi]

repost is much better Cheryl!!!

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

repost is much better Cheryl!!!

Great, Thanks for the honest feedback

[Melissa Groo]

Repost is much better, Cheryl. I like the pose and the muddy foot (which reminds me, I think I'm still cleaning mud out from between my toes!). Great job on the eye and lovely light here. We sure did have a great time, thanks for coming down south to Fort Myers area!

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Hey Girl yes I'm much happier with the repost. So nice to see you again Lets do it again soon

[rajojomanik]

Agreed, repost is much better, especially the whites.

I too are still using my trusty 40d but it's showing it's age in the ISO and fps category, will be upgrading soon. Hope you get your Mark III soon.

[Marina Scarr]

Repost is a huge improvement, especially on the whites and I like the blur on the BG.