Western Meadowlark

Gallery: AvianPosted April 11, 2011327 views25 comments

Just after lift-off. I do wish the OOF twigs in the foreground weren't there.

7D, 1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, shot from pickup window on 3/23/11, cropped to 50% of original image then added canvas to the left for composition, sharpened parts of bird and perch, no additional processing or adjustments, natural light, not set up or baited

Comments/critique appreciated

Comments

25 comments

Comment posted by John Blumenkamp on April 11, 2011 at 6:32 PM

Great capture here Ron! Excellent detail with the focus on that crucial eye... it looks like the meadowlark is checking you out, and those dangling feet are awesome. Only adjustment I can think of is to maybe experiment with cropping slightly along the top to give a more of horizontal format. Great job.

Registered on February 26, 2011, 58 Posts, 313 Comments

Comment posted by Sue Eberhart on April 11, 2011 at 8:00 PM

Such a great catchlight and detail in the feathers! The straightened feet push this image over the top!

Registered on June 9, 2009, 44 Posts, 208 Comments

Comment posted by Luke Ormand on April 11, 2011 at 8:01 PM

Beautiful and the yellows seem to be well saturated and not blown - the crop is a little awkward for me though

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

Comment posted by Ron Bielefeld on April 11, 2011 at 8:11 PM

Really a sweet image Ron. I don't even have a good static meadowlark shot let alone a flight shot. Love the light and great look at the head and the nice detail from head to feet. I agree about the OOF twigs, but not an issue of any magnitude IMO. Great BG too. Well done.

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

Comment posted by Jude Haase on April 11, 2011 at 8:52 PM

Sweet flight shot Ron!!

Registered on April 3, 2006, 236 Posts, 1657 Comments

Comment posted by Jenaya Launstein on April 11, 2011 at 9:32 PM

Wow, great timing! I love his colours against the background, especially that bright yellow. The catchlight in his eye is just awesome!

Registered on February 8, 2011, 254 Posts, 1302 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Ditch on April 11, 2011 at 9:41 PM

Very impressive. I can't imagine getting this good of a flight shot with any small bird.

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

Comment posted by Brian Gatlin on April 11, 2011 at 10:30 PM

wow, Ron, that is impressive. really like the pose here, as well as the bg and setting. I really like the spread primaries and how you can see the feet through them. the larger version seems just a hair less than razor sharp, but not by much and not a big deal given the degree of difficulty here.

Registered on March 21, 2009, 202 Posts, 4187 Comments

Comment posted by dan elster on April 11, 2011 at 10:51 PM

I would suggest cropping the OOF branch at the bottom, but then the wing would be a bit tight there. I think that is as close to a "nit" as I've ever come to one of your images. The fact is this is a superb shot.

Registered on September 23, 2005, 299 Posts, 2443 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on April 12, 2011 at 12:22 AM

Sweet, Ron. I like how the spread primaries allow the feet to show. Excellent job on the exposure.

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

Comment posted by Robert Holguin on April 12, 2011 at 3:26 AM

Wow!!! Great pic. Amazing timing, great eye contact, sharp where it needs to be, great background. Well done.

Registered on January 25, 2011, 44 Posts, 294 Comments

Comment posted by Ashley Vincent on April 12, 2011 at 7:26 AM

Excellent shot Ron, pin-sharp details in all the right places and beautifully lit with excellent composition, an exceptional image :^)

Can hardly wait until my skills with BIF shots are half this good ;^)

Registered on March 1, 2011, 154 Posts, 2083 Comments

Comment posted by John Tobias on April 12, 2011 at 7:26 AM

Delightful image. Nice and sharp with very good color. Thanks for sharing.

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

Comment posted by Fabio Giarrizzo on April 12, 2011 at 11:57 AM

Great flight shot (I suppose a very tough task with this species)- Excellent sharpness and exposure, with a very pleasant background- Thanks for sharing this, Fabio

Registered on December 3, 2010, 90 Posts, 1614 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Balke on April 12, 2011 at 12:36 PM

Wonderful view of this bird in flight and quite an amazing capture, Ron. I don't think that the OOF foreground branches are any distraction: their color lets them blend in nicely with the in-focus ones below the bird.

Registered on June 18, 2009, 229 Posts, 2915 Comments

Comment posted by Kurt Bowman on April 12, 2011 at 2:36 PM

Ron, I think this is one of the hardest birds to capture a good flight image of....this is terrific in my opinion!

Registered on June 19, 2008, 1005 Posts, 8028 Comments

Comment posted by Jim DeWitt on April 12, 2011 at 2:46 PM

Wonderful, Ron. Your flight shots are spectacular. I've never seen primaries spread like that in a Passerine, to the extent you can see the feet through them. Nice work on those difficult whites, yellows and blacks, too. In this strong an image, I think the OOF twigs are a very minor matter.

Registered on August 28, 2006, 1240 Posts, 8506 Comments

Comment posted by Karen Summers on April 12, 2011 at 3:10 PM

wonderful image Ron I don t mind the oof twigs the bird just takes your eye straight away

Registered on December 3, 2009, 83 Posts, 818 Comments

Comment posted by Mia McPherson on April 12, 2011 at 3:36 PM

Ron,

Great flight pose & eye contact. Nice muted background with colors that compliments the meadowlark well. Love hoe the feet show, the motion blur of the wingtips and the great light in the eye. The yellows look exposed very well, often a challenge with this species. Looking at this I can almost hear them singing :-)

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

Comment posted by Wayne Willison on April 12, 2011 at 6:02 PM

Love the colors and eye contact. Good image, Ron. Shouldn't be too hard to remove those oof twigs.

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

Comment posted by Keith A Anderson on April 12, 2011 at 9:41 PM

Wonderful image, Ron. Very sharp and the exposure is smack on! I see you point about the oof twigs but that's a VERY minor nit on a terrific capture. The only thing that could be added is singing in flight?

Registered on February 13, 2006, 166 Posts, 1818 Comments

Comment posted by Cheryl Molennor on April 12, 2011 at 10:24 PM

So cool right down to those feet! I don't mind the crop being square but I always tend to keep the rectangle crop for some reason. I love your logo as well

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

Comment posted by Rick Cloran on April 13, 2011 at 8:15 PM

Stellar.

That's all that needs to be said about this.

Registered on April 6, 2004, 119 Posts, 1989 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Archer on April 13, 2011 at 8:46 PM

All around great catch Ron!!! Excellent detail in the body and nice wing movement

Ken Archer

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

Comment posted by Howard Cheek on June 12, 2011 at 11:18 AM

Outstanding Ron, a pleasure to view.
Wish it was mine

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