Breakfast at Rosie's

Gallery: AvianPosted July 9, 2012435 views16 comments

Visited a rookery near New Iberia, Louisiana a few weeks ago and came away with a few keepers. This particular site, which is dominated by Rosies, Cattle Egrets and Little Blues, provides close access and both morning and afternoon shooting. As is the case with most rookeries, digging the birds out of very complex backgrounds is the biggest challenge. I am pleased that I was able to nearly isolate this family of Spoonbills having breakfast in the first light of morning.

This image has been cropped to a 4x5 format to eliminate white egrets in nearby nests and to frame the birds with the curving branch to the left (cropped image is 75% of original file).
I have also cropped out two partial egrets in the lower left of the image.

Canon 1D MkIV, 600mm, f8, 1/500, 640 ISO
Manual exposure, spot metered

Comments and Critiques welcomed and greatly appreciated.

Comments

16 comments

Comment posted by Max Waugh on July 9, 2012 at 11:50 PM

Wow, there's a lot for the eye to explore here. Wonderful light and a great pose from the feeding chick. I like that curving branch in that it helps fill the rest of the frame and balances things out a bit.

Max

Registered on September 26, 2008, 428 Posts, 2329 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Archer on July 10, 2012 at 5:28 AM

Awesome Photo Randy

Great inter-action between the eager chick and it's parent in beautiful light too. Perfect detail in all the family menbers, but the youngsters out streched wings and head position puts this one way over the top for me.

Very Nice Work

Ken Archer

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

Comment posted by John Tobias on July 10, 2012 at 7:15 AM

Great light! The action/behavior you caught is great. I like the frame formed by the branch. Thanks for sharing.

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

Comment posted by Rick Turner on July 10, 2012 at 7:57 AM

Stunning action, color and framing. Very busy scene reduced to a comp the eye can enjoy.

Registered on February 18, 2012, 534 Posts, 2755 Comments

Comment posted by Keith Bauer on July 10, 2012 at 8:30 AM

Love the choice of cropping to accentuate the branch as an important compositional element. Wonderful story, great light. Superb image.

Registered on November 20, 2003, 458 Posts, 4836 Comments

Comment posted by Howard Cheek on July 10, 2012 at 11:53 AM

Excellent behavioral action Randy. I especially like the warm colors and youngsters outstretched wings.
Great POV and call on the 4x5 format as well

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

Comment posted by Alan Murphy on July 10, 2012 at 6:07 PM

A fantastic family image and great light.

Registered on December 3, 2003, 192 Posts, 739 Comments

Comment posted by Ray Whitt on July 10, 2012 at 7:00 PM

The light and colors are very beautiful. Great composition, you've captured the behavior so well.

Ray

Registered on May 27, 2011, 92 Posts, 2619 Comments

Comment posted by Tonia Graves on July 10, 2012 at 9:37 PM

Great light and action here! I like the open wing pose of the youngster and the branch framing the birds. Nice work~!

Registered on October 29, 2011, 92 Posts, 1035 Comments

Comment posted by S Govindarajan on July 10, 2012 at 11:47 PM

Great capture of the interaction in the family, Randy. I also like your composition. The light adds a lot.

Registered on April 19, 2008, 115 Posts, 1921 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on July 11, 2012 at 12:43 PM

Sweet image, Randy. Gorgeous light that really fits the Spoonbills.

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

Comment posted by David Williams on July 11, 2012 at 3:41 PM

Cool lighting and nicely framed, Randy. A lot going on here, and they all seem to be in on the "pose".

Registered on March 8, 2005, 315 Posts, 2291 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on July 11, 2012 at 9:12 PM

Sweet lighting and great interaction Randy