Incoming Pheasant

First post and it is excellent, especially the incoming aspect.  Hopefully you will post more pheasant photos.  I think they are one of the most beautiful birds.

Welcome to NPN!  This is an outstanding image for a first post.

Man, I guess you really did figure out how to catch them flying toward you!  And your wing-shooting is right on target; hard to believe that this is essentially full-frame.  That accounts for the beautiful details, along with the luscious light. Could not be better if you flushed it in an expertly-lit studio.  My only small nit (just my taste) is that there is so little space around the bird. I think I might want to add a small bit of canvas to the top to keep the primaries from hitting the frame.

Looking forward to seeing more! ...and for reading your comments on the images of other members.

Welcome, and great first post. Beautiful look at those colorful feathers. Keep them coming.

John: a wonderful shot of a bird rarely seen in flight. The light, pose, background and techs are spot on. Just a tad more room at top would be a correction to consider. Congrats!! Richard

I think John this is perhaps one of your best shots, like the angle and wings outstretched. Having a fixed lens has it's draw backs, it's sadly just too tight all round, but hard to nail when they are flying at you. The darks/shadow ares of the rear feathers look lifted, more noise visible, at 800 there should be zero. John my advice would be keep the SS around 1/3200 and crank the ISO, I've shot 12,800 plus, no problem and constantly shoot high and get the capture. Be good if you post bigger.

Keeping a low SS, or not setting a good DoF with the 1DX is criminal, expose correctly and you will nail the capture time & time again, the old rules are out the window now, shot with a fast and high ISO and you will have more captures & keepers.

With the launch of the 1DX MKII images have just been elevated, having seen some RAW's it is awesome.

TFS
Steve

Thanks Steve. Old habits die hard, but I will try shooting at higher ISO. 
The image hasn't been pulled, but it has been oversharpened......looking at it on my macbook air it doesn't seem too bad, but when I looked at it on the big computer I'm almost embarrassed.

I've got a couple of 1Dx ii's on order, maybe have to try some higher ISO shots with the old 1Dx's before they go so that I can get comfortable going above 3200


Cheers
John

Hi John, indeed old habits are hard to shift, but these camera require change of habit as they are designed to be pushed and YOU are the one to control things, not the other way round as you can Customise it to your shooting, sadly the buck then stops with you .

As I said, get the exposure right and little NR is required, however light is always a premium with us over here, so don't let that evade capturing the image. If you are still in contact with Keith Mitchell he will tell how things have changed, although some old school think 1/125th is a fast SS. Good luck.

John, this is very good indeed. In this composition I like the large amount of space below the bird - it accentuates the bird's act of spirited landing. A pity about three feathers being clipped  on the left wing. May I suggest repositioning the crop to include small additions of space to the top and RHS? If this is not possible, a slightly more complicated solution would be to add small amounts of canvas to the top and RHS. Copy a small selection of the 4th feather, rotate and paste to feathers 1,2 and three and there you have it! Cheers.
David

John,
This is a great shot you certainly "cracked" it

Awesome incoming flight capture of this handsome pheasant John  Great wing & tail spread.

I do wish for more room on the sides and top, but I would certainly be happy to have this one in my files.

Sweet One!

Hi John
Good to see you on here.
You don't see many shots like this of these birds. Nice gradation in the BG too. Nice light through the  primaries too.
Cheers
John

This capture is really, really good.  I've photographed a lot of pheasants, but have never even had the opportunity to capture one coming at me yet, let alone landing at me.  To me the dynamics and difficulty of the photo far outweigh the clipped wing tips.  Great job.

Really like the angle of flight captured here. Like others, wish you had more room up top and sides to work with, but the action works nice. 

Brilliant color and great feather detail.  Congratulations .. well done.

Just picked up on this Editor's Pick award. Many thanks to the editor for considering this image as a pick of the week. 
You've made a grumpy man smile :)

Cheers,
John

Stunning! Welcome to NPN, and this is one heck of a first post. I do wish for a little more room on top, but hey, I know how difficult birds in flight are.  Congrats on the EP!