Trio

Gallery: AvianPosted December 3, 2010491 views23 comments

This is my first photo of greater yellowlegs. They were pretty far away and I thought they were lessers, because that's what I see more often, until a lesser yellowlegs flew in and the difference was obvious.

Canon 1D3, 300 f2.8 + stacked 2.0 & 1.4TCs
ISO 2oo, f8, 1/500
Av, evaluative metering -2/3
Cropped right and left to 2/3 of full size

Edit: Print for purchase has been edited pursuant to critiques received below.

Comments

23 comments

Comment posted by Barbara Graham on December 3, 2010 at 9:58 PM

This is beautiful, and it's amazing that you caught them posed like that!

Registered on July 27, 2010, 1310 Posts, 5035 Comments

Comment posted by Derrick Lipinski on December 3, 2010 at 10:13 PM

Awesome! Wow...what a treat! The only thing I would suggest would be to crop a little more off of the bottom; say, just below the reflection. Regardless; priceless pose!

Registered on October 5, 2007, 58 Posts, 2039 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on December 3, 2010 at 10:44 PM

How much did it cost to get them to pose like that, Buck? A really nice composition and it looks nice and sharp and well exposed.

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

Comment posted by Michael Twaddell on December 3, 2010 at 10:50 PM

Cool pose! That's unusual! I do agree with the suggestion to remove some of the empty space under the reflection.

Registered on August 16, 2007, 199 Posts, 2132 Comments

Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on December 4, 2010 at 2:13 AM

Buck, you caught a wonderful set of poses.
Nice colors and detail, and I love the green water.
Not sure about the comp - different and not BAD - but I'm not sure it adds anything. A more traditional crop would focus on the birds.
Cheers -

Sandy

Registered on November 24, 2003, 3937 Posts, 12909 Comments

Comment posted by Geoffrey Baker on December 4, 2010 at 4:49 AM

I like the symmetry in this image, it's amazing

I'd crop a bit off the bottom too.
Well captured.

Geoff.

Registered on August 20, 2010, 192 Posts, 980 Comments

Comment posted by Jagdeep Rajput on December 4, 2010 at 5:09 AM

Great poses and symmetry here !
Any reason for placing them high on the frame?
Jagdeep Rajput

Registered on April 29, 2008, 686 Posts, 2857 Comments

Comment posted by Wayne Willison on December 4, 2010 at 7:44 AM

Buck, did you pose them yourself?? Nice.

Registered on April 10, 2009, 292 Posts, 3967 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Dudley on December 4, 2010 at 9:53 AM

Neat poses Buck and kind of refreshing to see such a "formal" subject arrangement from birds who are notorious for not taking direction well. If this were mine I'l probably go with a more traditional composition.

Registered on March 30, 2007, 437 Posts, 10915 Comments

Comment posted by Dan Moore on December 4, 2010 at 9:59 AM

Wonderfull pose that you caught. I like the crop but would add just a little on top and take a little from the bottom. Not much.

Dan

Registered on February 11, 2010, 143 Posts, 1248 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Lou on December 4, 2010 at 10:38 AM

I like the posture of the birds, yellow legs against green water and their reflection. However, I would like to see more space on the top of the frame and less of the bottom

Registered on August 3, 2010, 86 Posts, 273 Comments

Comment posted by Luke Ormand on December 4, 2010 at 1:52 PM

Perfect poses from these three birds... I like it a lot

Registered on February 4, 2009, 1093 Posts, 7035 Comments

Comment posted by Mia McPherson on December 4, 2010 at 3:20 PM

Buck,

Congrats on your first photos of greater yellowlegs, the poses they gave you are just great! Nice light, beautiful green water & details. I might consider a crop from the bottom to just below the last bits of their reflections.

A wonderful image as posted

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

Comment posted by Ron Bielefeld on December 4, 2010 at 4:02 PM

Love the arrangement of the birds Buck. I like the shot for sure, but probably would work on the comp a bit if this were mine. More room on top less on bottem, etc. Buy hey, that is just me.

Registered on December 6, 2008, 360 Posts, 7132 Comments

Comment posted by Ian Mason on December 4, 2010 at 4:09 PM

A excellent group. I agree a traditional composition would be better, although I'm not against breaking rules!

Registered on December 14, 2005, 399 Posts, 2305 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Ditch on December 4, 2010 at 4:39 PM

I love this unique grouping - quite the catch! I too vote for some off the bottom if the quality holds up to more cropping.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 1031 Posts, 12705 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Archer on December 4, 2010 at 5:50 PM

Excellent

Ken Archer

Registered on October 28, 2004, 222 Posts, 6683 Comments

Comment posted by Joel DeYoung on December 4, 2010 at 7:08 PM

Nice job with the composition. Not sure about the crop, but the colors and details look real good. Looks like they may be plotting to poop on you.

Registered on July 12, 2009, 92 Posts, 1074 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Leggett on December 5, 2010 at 3:29 PM

Couldn't ask for a better pose, Buck!

Registered on July 21, 2004, 706 Posts, 3233 Comments

Comment posted by Buck Ward on December 5, 2010 at 3:43 PM

Thanks everyone.
Obviously, I blew it with regards to placement in the frame, but that's an easy fix. I was interested in testing the stacked teleconverters rather than paying attention to composition. I was surprised by the sharpness they gave me.
The two birds in the front were dozing with beaks tucked under wing and the one in the rear was moving about. When he would get close, one or the other of the dozers would open its eye or lift its beak. When he walked up to them like this, they both became alert, I got this picture, and then it was gone.
Thanks again for your complimentary critiques.

Registered on December 8, 2003, 96 Posts, 1917 Comments

Comment posted by Monica Siri on December 5, 2010 at 4:01 PM

Beautiful image, Buck. Great result from the stacked TC. I'll try it, although with a 40D.

Registered on September 20, 2009, 132 Posts, 3764 Comments

Comment posted by May Haga on December 5, 2010 at 6:21 PM

OK, are they trained birds and if so how long did it take you to achieve this pose!! Only joking. Wonderful grouping. Outstanding capture.
May

Registered on February 22, 2007, 714 Posts, 8470 Comments

Comment posted by Howard Cheek on August 31, 2014 at 7:51 PM

Wow, your training of these birds sure paid off well Buck

Excellent image, congrats

Registered on July 24, 2008, 1201 Posts, 10758 Comments