Banking Bosque Crane

I just got back from a very successful Bosque workshop that I co-led with my good friends Greg Basco and Keith Bauer. The birds were there in good numbers and the refuge is in the best shape I've seen it in recent memory. The refuge management seems genuinely interested in photographer feedback. All in all things are very encouraging! Here's my first image post from the Bosque for the season. It helps make the case for manual exposure for flight photography. I tracked this bird as it flew against a variety of BGs, and each of them would have produced a totally different exposure even though light on the bird was constant. The Crane against the black BG in this frame would have been totally cooked. Instead, I got a perfect bird exposure for all frames in the sequence. I extended the black a tiny bit in post.



Canon 5D Mark III, 600mm II + 1.4x III, f/7.1, 1/3200, ISO 400, manual exposure, hand held


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What a beautiful topside view, and yes, just perfect exposure. Love the crane's delicate colors against the dark background, and the spots of color in the BG on either side. Fantastic head angle for this pose. Just a stunner, Doug. Looking forward to seeing more from your trip.

A beauty, Doug. Auto ISO would have failed miserably here!:S3:

Doug:

Happy Thanksgiving to you. Glad it was a good workshop, and conditions/birds cooperated.

Fine looking crane, nice dorsal display,sharp, nicely exposed.

Because of the lighter areas above, I almost wish there was some detail showing through in the darker areas.

Cheers

Randy

Randy Stout said:

Because of the lighter areas above, I almost wish there was some detail showing through in the darker areas.

Click to expand...

Hi Randy, and happy Thanksgiving to you too. There is detail in the blacks, but it's hard to see in daylight. Have a look at the image in a dimly lit room.

Great banking pose, perfect exposure, Doug.
I'm a true believer of manual exposure.
I convinced a few people to swith over and they do better now tahn before.

Nicely contrasted against the darker backdrop and liking the splashes of gold in the top of the frame. beautiful and the bird is even looking at the photographer

Very cool shot, Doug.
It really does pop from that background, and the exposure is very nice in what looks like a difficult BG.

I like the wing position, top view, IQ and dark BG. Excellent image Doug!

Love the dorsal view. Nice sharp details and great eye contact from the bird.

Very nice, and as noted already this is a perfect HA! Is that a piece of dry grass on the foot? Glad the conditions there are looking good...

Daniel Cadieux said:

Is that a piece of dry grass on the foot?

Click to expand...

That's exactly what it is Daniel.

Excellent topside view and exposure!

Thanks everyone for the feedback!

Love this, Doug. The bird just pops off that dark BG, and the whole image really says fall at the Bosque to me. Manual exposure was indeed the only way to go for this type of shooting scenario.

Cheers,
Greg