Wild Turkey

Gallery: AvianPosted January 12, 201093 views2 comments

Canon 400d, 400mm, 1250 at f5.6, ISO 400, crop 29%

This is my first post, of Turkeys along the Natchez Trace Parkway here in central Mississippi. They rarely come out in mid afternoon, but the recent cold weather had wildlife hungry. I mainly take birds for giving programs, but include senics. I have been interested in birds a long time having been President of the local Audubon chapter and a Regional Coordinator during our Breeding Bird Alas (volunteer to recruit more volunteers). This was taken last weekend out looking mainly for ducks. The parkway passes a large reservoir near here. The turkeys were a nice surprise! Comments are welcome.

Comments

2 comments

Comment posted by Mia McPherson on January 13, 2010 at 8:45 AM

Hello Skipper,

Welcome to NPN's Avian critique gallery, it is a great place to learn to improve your skills, to share information and to get to know the other avian photographers here, they are a wonderful group. .

I like the pose of your turkeys, the iridescence you captured in their feathers and the rich brown tones.

I would have gone for more dof for this image since there were two birds, you had plenty of light and shutter speed, so I may have gone to f11 to get both birds in focus. The trade off would be that the busy background might become more of an issue than it is here, but I don't think it would have competed with two sharp turkeys. It does seem to me that as is the front bird could use a little selective sharpening. Still a nice image as posted.

I look forward to seeing more of your images!

Registered on June 25, 2007, 491 Posts, 12566 Comments

Comment posted by Matt Shellenberg on January 14, 2010 at 12:56 PM

Welcome to NPN Skipper. I like the poses and the way you have composed these Turkeys, my only nit would be that the rear bird appears out of focus. As Mia mentions, you may have been able to get more depth of field had you used a a smaller aperture.

Hope to see more of your work in the future.

Registered on February 6, 2008, 168 Posts, 3118 Comments