Sandhill Crane Migration

Gallery: AvianPosted March 20, 2010153 views9 comments

We have been lucky enough the past few weeks to have hundreds of Sandhill Crane's migrating over our state heading North to their summer breeding grounds. Only once have they been low enough for me to get a picture. Canon Eos Rebel 450D 300mm f/5.6 1/1600's ISO 400
As always, I appreciate any feedback for improvement.
Jen Day

Comments

9 comments

Comment posted by Raymond Klassen on March 20, 2010 at 10:38 PM

I also see some artifacts, but I really like the backlit wings and the perfect diagonal line. Well done.

Registered on November 30, 2008, 114 Posts, 790 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on March 20, 2010 at 11:33 PM

Nice formation you captured, Jennifer. It looks like you did an excellent job on the exposure, and I like the feel of the composition. I don't know what your original was, but a bit more canvas in front of the lower right bird might be nice-hard to be sure without seeing it.

Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments

Comment posted by Jennifer Day on March 21, 2010 at 12:00 AM

Thanks All,
What does "PS" mean. Please forgive my ignorance. I am still an amateur :)

Registered on March 8, 2010, 5 Posts, 14 Comments

Comment posted by Gary Gulash on March 21, 2010 at 1:35 AM

I like that all four are so nicely in focus and they are well spaced, interesting perspective. If this is a big crop I might give a bit more room to reduce the appearance of pixellation in the blue sky. I'm very envious of your experience seeing this, I'm way off their migration path.

Registered on January 28, 2005, 879 Posts, 12098 Comments

Comment posted by John Tobias on March 21, 2010 at 8:27 AM

Very nice photo, well done IMHO. Good composition and exposure. I like that each crane 's wings are slightly different from the others. PS I believe refers to Photo Shop. But, I have never been able to see what is meant by 'artifacts". It is a good photo.

Registered on September 12, 2009, 2120 Posts, 6455 Comments

Comment posted by Mauro Pasquero on March 21, 2010 at 8:53 AM

Very, very nice composition, Jennifer!!!
Mauro

Registered on January 21, 2010, 650 Posts, 2500 Comments

Comment posted by Cheryl Molennor on March 21, 2010 at 4:48 PM

I really had to study these birds individually to see that they were not all the same "cloned in" bird. It's amazing how they all share practically the same exact flying pose. Very cool

Registered on June 30, 2009, 300 Posts, 5051 Comments

Comment posted by Jennifer Day on March 21, 2010 at 6:31 PM

Cheryl,
That makes me laugh because I don't know what "cloning" means and can't even figure out photoshop yet. I have just been doing a bit of cropping in Picasa and then I am done :)

Registered on March 8, 2010, 5 Posts, 14 Comments

Comment posted by Mia McPherson on March 21, 2010 at 6:36 PM

Jennifer,

You don't mention how much this was cropped but I think this would look stronger if there was a bit more space above & below the birds, then more room on the right side of the frame to allow space for the cranes to fly into, that will create a stronger composition.

There are crinkly little artifacts surrounding the cranes which is some times an indicator that the entire image was sharpened instead of selecting and masking just the cranes and only sharpening them.

Another issue is that this image has had the life compressed out of it, the file size is 14.6 kb. I see very little detail in the cranes plumage and that may be directly related to the over compression.

This image has strong bones, it needs to be carefully reprocessed. When saving, try to keep the file size just under 200 kb, that will help with the details.

Your exposure looks good, I hope you will rework this and repost it.

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