Sharptails Dueling 2

Shot last month in North Dakota. Enjoy shooting in the snow,which we have had very little of this year. Shooting in the snow can be very difficult with extreme temps and wind. Accessibility is a another handicap last year I could only reach one Lek out of several due to high snow drifts.
Processed with Dpp4, Photoshop Comments and critiques appreciated.
Canon R5
RF 400 2.8
560mm
1/3200
ISO 2000

Love this. The interaction is great, and I love the grasses. Just enough. The bit of "splashing" snow is pretty cool as well. This would look even better as a 5:4 with some taken off the right.

Shooting in the snow can be very difficult with extreme temps and wind.

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Like the interacxtion here.

Kevin, this is where, firstly you have to think differently when shooting Mirrorless from DSLR, you cannot carry over how you used to operate with DSLR, you have to trust in the AF system. Secondly, shooting in snow is easy, you have to trust in your Histogram, it's you best friend. As you have great light and a reasonable SS, you could have easily dialled in SS 1/4000 or 5000 to really freeze the action. Would have like a bit more on the LHS, it's too tight IMHO, easy to general, if ethic allow.

Shooting Polar bears in a white environment is the challenge, at -33 you can/do get 'atmospherics' which you can't see, but it will affect the image.

Looks very good Kevin !!!
Love the action and the fact that both faces are visible is very cool . Very nice low angle and the blue in the BG is sweet , just wish for more space to the left .
Nicely processed .... let´s see more

TFS Andreas

Kevin, seeing your post on FB made me envious. Would love to shoot these one time.

You captured this beautifully IMO. Getting a dorsal view of the left subject with no eyes in view could be less than desirable, however him looking back down with good eye contact is awesome. A great look at the subject on the ground, looking up in focus and framed nicely by the upper's wing.

Perhaps a little more from the left would enhance the image but hard to nit. Really nice!

For me this image is a perfect one. I love how the grasses on the right balance the battling birds. The dorsal view of the top combatant as it looks down t the other birds is the bomb!

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Steve Kaluski said:

Like the interacxtion here.

Kevin, this is where, firstly you have to think differently when shooting Mirrorless from DSLR, you cannot carry over how you used to operate with DSLR, you have to trust in the AF system. Secondly, shooting in snow is easy, you have to trust in your Histogram, it's you best friend. As you have great light and a reasonable SS, you could have easily dialled in SS 1/4000 or 5000 to really freeze the action. Would have like a bit more on the LHS, it's too tight IMHO, easy to general, if ethic allow.

Shooting Polar bears in a white environment is the challenge, at -33 you can/do get 'atmospherics' which you can't see, but it will affect the image.

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Hi Steve,

With all due respect, not much what you say above makes much sense to me.

Both birds are sharp on the eye. In what way did Kevin not trust in his mirrorless AF system?

If you understand exposure theory, shooting in snow is no different from shooting in any environment. The exposure here looks great.

The action is frozen. There is no wing blur. The only thing o-o-f is the is the near wing of the attacking bird and that is a d-of issue, not a shutter speed issue.

I have zero idea what you are talking about with regards to -33.

Much love, artie

Hi Artie, just to clarify.

Both birds are sharp on the eye. In what way did Kevin not trust in his mirrorless AF system?

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Mirrorless irrespective of Brand has come on in leaps and bounds and so where with DSLR you had to ideally get the AF over the eye, with Mirrorless and its Deep learning, you no long have to d this. It is far more accurate and quicker, so if Kevin was trying to move the AF as per with DSLR, he can forget it. The only time I have manually moved the AF was either to change the position to another subject, or refocusing in anticipation for BIF.

If you understand exposure theory, shooting in snow is no different from shooting in any environment. The exposure here looks great.

Click to expand...

Shooting in snow can create almost, 'thin, washed-out' looking images when reviewing the Histogram if you get exposure correct, plus you are often +1-+2 EV. But once brought in PP everything is great because you have captured so much data the detail is awesome.

The action is frozen. There is no wing blur. The only thing o-o-f is the is the near wing of the attacking bird and that is a d-of issue, not a shutter speed issue

Click to expand...

All I was saying was that he could have gone for a higher SS if he chose to, with no real difference to IQ as the ISO is quite low. ISO is just another number and not to be feared.

I have zero idea what you are talking about with regards to -33.

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In snow conditions they're often small 'atmospherics' you cannot see but can affect the capture, sometimes you can see the small crystals falling. '-33' I was referring to the temperature.

Not much more to say - perfect!