Wilson's Phalarope - Male

[Ian Cassell]

Canon 7D
EF 400mm f/5.6L

1/3200 sec f/9 ISO 800

This was a balancing act. I had to crank my SS way up to stop the motion on these guys who were spinning in furious circles (stirring up food). Since they were moving in my direction and away a fair amount as they spun, I found it necessary to bring my aperture up. This combination necessitated my increased ISO.

Crop for composition, sharpening in CS5
NR on BG in Noiseware Pro

[Gerald Kelberg]

Hi Ian,
I hope to get with some Phalaropes in June, since we don't get them around here - but I have heard of their "spinning". I am surprised that you had to go as fast as 1/3200 to freeze the action. Out of interest - what was the lowest speed that you tried?

I think that the image is looking a little flat - could do with a contrast boost, perhaps - and despite the NR, still a bit grainy. Have you cropped this quite severely?

Thanks,

Gerald

[Joel Eade]

Nice capture Ian ... soft light, low angle and nice BG. You did well with the sharpness and adjusting your technique to fit the situation. Could use a touch of NR on the out of focus water behind the bird.

[Ian Cassell]

Thanks for critiquing. No, Gerald, it was not much of a crop. I was sitting on the bank and these guys were just beyond the MFD of my 400. I have exposures from 1/1000 (I try not to go below this when I am handholding) up to 1/3200. There was motion blur at 1/2500 which surprised me too, although I was getting dizzy watching them spin. I'll try a bit more NR on the BG.

[Gerald Kelberg]

Thanks Ian! Truly wild! I had no idea they went that fast!

Gerald

[Ian Cassell]

This was only the second time I've seen Phalaropes and previously it was 2 of them from a great distance far out of lens-reach. This time there were a dozen of them right in front of me spinning like crazy. I had never heard of this behavior before and read about it when I got home. It's very impressive. I think they do it to make their prey dizzy :p

[Kerry Perkins]

Ian, don't forget you have a video camera too... This is a real nice image and good comments above. I agree that the tone is a bit flat. I did a pass at the image and ran an aggressive NR (Topaz DeNoise) on the bg. I also did a little bit of color balance, as I think there is a slight blue cast to your original. Added a touch of black to the whites, grays, and blacks in "selective color" - gives the image a bit of punch. Just some suggestions... Nice job of getting low for that good perspective. Well done!

[Ian Cassell]

Thanks for the re-work, Kerry. I do like that. I need a lot of help with my PP skills. I almost never use video on the 7D as I would never watch it, but I did think of it here. My card was nearly empty and I didn't want to waste my memory.

[Kerry Perkins]

Ian, my memory was wasted long ago so don't worry about it!