‹ Previous Gallery of the Month Gallery Next ›

May 2014 GOTM

Gallery: Gallery of the MonthPosted March 30, 20141,244 views33 comments

Male Woodie in Flight

Nikon D4
600 mm with out TC
F/5.0/Manual exposure
WB Auto
ISO 1000
1/1600
Metering mode CWA
RAW
Tripod w/Wimberly Head
Cropped from 16.3 MB to 3.027 MB (81.4 %)
LR 4 and PS Elements 9

Another wood duck image from San Diego area. This was shot early morning without much light a few months ago so I took the tele-converter off looking for more shutter speed and was able to get it up to 1/1600 which I thought was enough for some flight shots.
This was a really big crop so hopefully this holds up under the compression. Comments are greatly appreciated. I always seem to miss things that you guys catch!
Thanks for looking. Have a great week.

Comments

33 comments

Comment posted by Patricia Brundage on March 30, 2014 at 11:58 PM

This is unreal. Perfect in every way!

Registered on March 23, 2006, 1111 Posts, 6531 Comments

Comment posted by Jerry Austin on March 31, 2014 at 12:06 AM

JUST AMAZING!!!!! Enough said.

Registered on January 6, 2012, 651 Posts, 3448 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Gavin on March 31, 2014 at 1:21 AM

Registered on August 14, 2008, 293 Posts, 1250 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Gavin on March 31, 2014 at 1:22 AM

Spectacular; awesome, etc. etc. etc.

Registered on August 14, 2008, 293 Posts, 1250 Comments

Comment posted by Gary Gulash on March 31, 2014 at 1:58 AM

Holy Smokes, perfect wing position and razor sharp on what has to be one of the most beautiful duck species on the planet. I think that you may have lost a little of the nuances in colour tone as a result of the huge crop, but still very, very nice!

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

Comment posted by Rob Drummond on March 31, 2014 at 6:38 AM

Spectacular colours David - the blues are amazing

Registered on November 8, 2003, 617 Posts, 8267 Comments

Comment posted by Kurt Bowman on March 31, 2014 at 8:02 AM

Absolutely gorgeous flight shot David. Love the BG color as well, being such a neutral color, it makes the Woody seem like he's flying off the page.

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

Comment posted by Keith Bauer on March 31, 2014 at 8:39 AM

David: The thumbnail of this looks good, the small image looks great, and the large image looks fantastic! The light captured here is very special. I really like the light in the wings to show off those amazing colors. Great sharpness with the huge crop, the image still looks great. Congrats on this capture.

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

Comment posted by Guy Nelson on March 31, 2014 at 9:11 AM

Excellent! Can't get any better!

Guy

Registered on October 12, 2012, 24 Posts, 138 Comments

Comment posted by Mike Ramy on March 31, 2014 at 10:38 AM

Outstanding David,

Registered on June 16, 2012, 567 Posts, 2809 Comments

Comment posted by Patrick O'Healy on March 31, 2014 at 11:19 AM

Stunning shot. It was great shooting with you Saturday. I suspect you are holding back on Saturday photos. Can't wait to see them.

I got many good photos Saturday. Your coaching has been instrumental in my improvement.

Registered on March 13, 2011, 326 Posts, 1679 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Leggett on March 31, 2014 at 11:20 AM

David, this is really a WOW image considering that much crop.

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

Comment posted by Hans Overduin on March 31, 2014 at 12:18 PM

Wow, what a great colored flight shot with an amazing species !

, Hans

Registered on August 31, 2011, 491 Posts, 3807 Comments

Comment posted by Max Waugh on March 31, 2014 at 12:44 PM

Nice one, David. Seeing the colors in the plumage, all the way down to the wingtips, is pretty great.

Max

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

Comment posted by Jim Hackley on March 31, 2014 at 1:27 PM

Excellent flight shot and the crop held up well as the larger image looks great, nice job in getting this difficult shot.

Registered on September 17, 2009, 302 Posts, 5535 Comments

Comment posted by Robert Bunch on March 31, 2014 at 3:45 PM

I love the wing position and the colors are great especially the blues in the wing and the quality is excellent for such a large blowup.

Registered on May 18, 2004, 124 Posts, 2503 Comments

Comment posted by Sharon Hallowell on March 31, 2014 at 7:28 PM

This one blows me away! Excellent! Sharon

Registered on November 1, 2003, 392 Posts, 4810 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Ditch on March 31, 2014 at 7:42 PM

Terrific!

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

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on March 31, 2014 at 7:54 PM

Beautiful wing position and exposure, David. I'm seeing some effect of the crop in the larger image, but it's certainly fine for web presentation.

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

Comment posted by Bill Marsh on March 31, 2014 at 9:59 PM

Wow! Does not get any better than this. Great job David

Registered on December 29, 2012, 21 Posts, 225 Comments

Comment posted by Matt Shellenberg on April 1, 2014 at 9:39 PM

This is awesome David. Great light, superb detail and a very pleasing background. Spectacular image!!

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

Comment posted by Rick Cloran on April 1, 2014 at 9:46 PM

Large crop not withstanding all I can say is -

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

Comment posted by Howard Cheek on April 2, 2014 at 10:24 AM

Wonderful image David.
Excellent work

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

Comment posted by Ken Archer on April 2, 2014 at 6:08 PM

Awesome flight shot David

Great colors and detail.

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

Comment posted by Charlie VanTassel on April 2, 2014 at 11:36 PM

Pretty incredible, David. Let me know next time you going down there.

Registered on October 18, 2006, 644 Posts, 4801 Comments

Comment posted by William Bickle on April 4, 2014 at 8:17 AM

Hello David

Well done! Seems like a detailed painting with great detail to colourization and fine feathers!

cheers

Bill

Registered on June 13, 2011, 183 Posts, 1702 Comments

Comment posted by Ákos Lumnitzer on April 5, 2014 at 12:02 AM

I would always prefer a flying bird to be coming towards me, even if only just. This seems to have only passed you, and you can tell with the near wing being further to the left, meaning the bird is angled away from you. Just noticed how much you cropped. I always prefer to get as close to full frame as possible.

Despite that, the detail and colours are just spectacular. I really love it!

Registered on April 24, 2004, 25 Posts, 510 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on April 5, 2014 at 1:52 PM

Super shot David, wonderful colors. If I look closely I can see the effect of the very large crop in that the feathers seem to be lacking some fine detail in the larger version. That said, for the size of the crop it's excellent and a beautiful image.

Registered on February 1, 2006, 1158 Posts, 19528 Comments

Comment posted by John Launstein on April 5, 2014 at 6:43 PM

David: my comments will just sound like all the others before me but oh my word what an amazing shot of this woodie in flight. Insanely good. Light, detail, background, comp...everything. Just stunning. Probably the single defining characteristic that puts this into the epic category is color. Just wow, as my daughter would say!

Registered on April 5, 2011, 223 Posts, 1193 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Olsen on April 6, 2014 at 8:06 PM

I can't add anything that hasn't been said.
Incredible image!!