Crane dance +1 tighter crop

Image Critiques Avian Critiques
1

Crane dance
Crane dance2880×1800 2.2 MB

Kristen_SmithApril 12, 2022P1084531-Edit-Edit-2
Kristen_SmithApril 12, 2022P1084531-Edit-Edit-22000×1333 1.29 MB

This time of year the countryside is filled with the sound of sandhill cranes. Their calls can be heard for miles and once you know what they are, you can’t mistake them for anything else. These two were right next to the road in basically the middle of nowhere. So I stopped and stood behind my Jeep, using the hood as a brace. I got a few of one dancing, but this is the best of the lot because the other bird is facing toward me. Eventually they moved farther off and I left them to it.

Specific Feedback Requested

Suggestions for improvement welcome.

Technical Details

Is this a composite: No
Handheld

image

Lr for initial RAW processing including a crop, a white balance tweak, lens correction, texture & clarity, a bit of sharpening and nr. Topaz Sharpen to bring up as much detail as I could. Photoshop to remove some distractions in the background and to bring up the light under that marvelous wing.

2

Nice look at the cranes. Good dancing pose . Wonder what the other one is thinking- I like the open beak and “wide-eyed” look. Excellent detail in the largest version, so I wonder about a tighter crop to help bring this out.

3

Great action and wonderful to get that close. The few places I’ve seen them, outside of FL, you can’t get within several hundred feet. I think a tighter crop would be good here, as the extra environment doesn’t add a lot.

4

Our brolgas look pretty much the same as your Sandhills. They dance and play, and I haven’t one decent shot of them.

I like to see the environment, but I also think this image would be stronger if cropped tighter.

5

Thanks much guys. Tighter crop it is. I was worried it wouldn’t give the birds much room to play in. They tend to wander all over when they do this so I wasn’t zoomed in as tight as I could have been. They are such fun to watch.

1 Like
6

Hi Kristen
I hope some-day to see these great birds in action. Your thinking on staying wide to photographing the dance is the safest course of action, one can always crop the photo. Nice catch.
Peter

7

Thanks @peter - like when I sometimes shoot hummingbirds (talk about the other end of the spectrum) I loosen up the lens a bit so I can keep track of them in the frame better. Although I am using the smallest of the crop sensors, on most occasions I can crop further so I do. I really want to go out and try for some again if it ever stops snowing. Plus I have a Whooping Crane outing coming up in about a month. By then the birds down south in the state will be well into nesting.

8

Sounds like you’ll be busy for a little while.

I like the tighter crop.