Super model gone horribly wrong

[Randy Stout]

These wood storks were imaged last week on Artie's SW Florida IPT at Little Estero. It had been a rainy morning, and despite good photo ops, everyone was pretty tired and wet. The normal people elected to do a photoshop session. Of course, Daniel Cadieux and myself went back out that afternoon, along with one of the participants, Dennis Holt.

We were rewarded with great bird opportunities. Just after sunset the wood storks showed up and gave us quite a show. Their bodies are so beautiful, the feathers elegant, the ruff around the neck looking like a ladies boa. The heads however look like spare parts off the dinosaur scrap heap.

I liked the overlap here. I have a LOT of solo pictures from that night, but liked this one. Reflections are a bit busy with the extra body parts.

D700 600VR f/4.5 1/250s ISO 100 SB800 beamer -3.0 EC

Post: CS5 selective sharpening, slight rotation and crop, minor water cleanup

Thoughts and advice always appreciated.

Cheers

Randy

[Joerg Rockenberger]

Hi Randy, very nice job on the flash and exposure. Love the background and don't mind the reflections in the foreground. But I'd prefer that the second stork wouldn't be there or that one could see the entire body. JR

[Todd Frost]

Well done Randy. Good work with the flash. Don't mind the refl, I like the oof rear stork as well. Exposure and sharpness look good. Well done.
TFS
Todd

[Ed Grella]

Randy. you may want to do a bit of work on the background birds eye, it has steel eye from the flash angle.

[John Guastella]

The heads however look like spare parts off the dinosaur scrap heap.

Yes! Only seen one wild (last year here in OC) and I was struck by its prehistoric look.

You got great detail on the main subject and the whites look excellent on my monitor. I'm just not sure about the OOF second bird in the BG. My eye is immediately drawn to it, especially since it resides in the center of the image.

John

[Pieter de Waal]

I like the concept of the image and the artistic feel the second bird creates. Nice exposure and detail as usual.

[Stu Bowie]

Randy, good flashwork and exposure, with excellent sharpness. I actually like the OOF stork, it creates a mirror reflection. It would have been a killer, if the OOF stork had just turned his head slightly more towards you.:w3

[Chris Martinez]

Now that's the problem with this day and age, Peoples narrow view on what is beautiful and what isn't. These poor birds probably already have self esteem issues:t3


The image gives me a feeling it was quite cold due to colour temp. Was it cold?

[Nicki Gwynn Jones]

Randy, I like this very much as presented. I've always been rather fond of wood storks myself, and yes, their feathers are beautiful! Was this taken at Little Estero?
Glad the IPT went well!

[Joe Senzatimore]

Great image of beautiful birds(I thought my ex wife was beautiful at one point as well).:eek::eek::eek: Very effective flash use and the title is perfect.

[Daniel Cadieux]

These storks were alot of fun to work with, I can't wait to process mine! Like Stuart, I would have loved had the far stork turned its head a bit more...but still a fine image overall.

[Doug Brown]

You really captured the post-sunset mood nicely. Great use of fill flash. A head turn from Stork 2 would have been nice, but still a good frame. Wish I could have been there too!

[Mark Hardymon]

Randy - I knew I should have gone back with you guys!! I like the image just as it is, the second oof stork looking slightly away tells it's own story which I immediately liked. Technical stuff is just fine.

[denise ippolito]

Randy, I like the way you composed this. Nice poses and I think the rear bird turning gives us a nice look at it's profile. It was great seeing you again and I look forward to shooting w/ you again. Wish I hadn't missed that night!:S3: