Nature Study Group #1: Sharon PrislipskyJon C. Allanson | Gautam Biswas | Maria Korab-Laskowska | Erin A. Olsen | Sharon Prislipsky | Mike Walker | Home
Title: Crane About to Lift Off
Goal: I wanted to show the morning flight of the Sand Hill Crane. They spend the night in a pond to avoid predators. Due to sub freezing tempreatures their feet are often frozen in ice in the early morning. When the ice melts the move forward in a stalking motion, begin to run, then lift off and head to a place to feed during the daylight hours. The whole process is reversed at nightfall.
Source: Canon 7D, Canon 100-400mm lens at 400mm.
Technique: I focused on a bird that was bahving as if it was about to take flight. As it began to move forward i tracked it and began burst shooting when it left the ground. This was one of a series of images that shows the take off. ISO100; f/5.6; 1/5000 sec.
autofocus using the back button; hand held Processing: Lightroom adjustments, cropping and sharpening Study Group Comments and Scores (N, T, P, E, Total)
Posted by
mikew
on
Feb 17th, 2013
What a good way to achieve your goal. You have caught the early morning light on the feathers and water beautifully. I like the profile view and the fact that you have chosen a shot where the bird is not touching the water. You have everything sharp and the aperture knocks out the background without losing the context. N3, T3, P3 9
Posted by
gautamb
on
Mar 3rd, 2013
Very nice image with a strong nature story. The image is well exposed and sharp. My only suggestion might be to try and see if the composition improves by cropping s bit from the bottom of the image to make it a bit more rectangular and give a sense of forward direction.N=3, T=3, P=3, Total=9
Posted by
danc
on
Mar 29th, 2013
Bosque del Apache is a treasure trove and that appears to be the location where you took this image from. Watching behavior is the way to anticipate action and for taking off, leaning forward into whatever wind there is is a significant clue. The stronger the wind, the shorter the run before takeoff. Your early morning light gives you nice colors and feather detail. By the direction of the lighting, I am guessing the South Crane Pond outside the main tour loops. Your balance of space before and after the crane have given it sufficient space to take off. Try it with about half the foreground water cropped. Yes, that will reduce the reflection but place more attention on the crane itself. The rest of the adjustments look spot on.N3, T3, P3 = 9 You must be logged in to leave a reply. Login »
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