I made a drive about an hour south of my home to check out sunrise at a small Waterfowl Management Area. Founds thousands of Sandhill Cranes, a few hundred Snow Geese and a few other raptors. Sunrise was lovely and I found this foreground with a few cranes still on the water. I saw the sky color forming in the background and waited hoping for a bird or two to fly through the opening. I was rewarded with one lone Sandhill that flew through in about the right location.
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Is this a composite? NO
Olympus EM-1 Mark III, 40-150 f/2.8 Pro lens at 48mm
1/500, f/2.8, ISO 320 Handheld
Cropped a bit from the right and top .
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Beautiful sunrise and I like the crane positions except the group on the far right which feels like it’s crowding the edge more than is comfortable. The trio on the left is wonderful.
I will echo what the others have said Keith…Just spectacular! This literally looks like a painting. The golden reflected light in the pond creates such dramatic contrast with the cranes and the dried grasses sticking up. The lone crane flying at just the right height and in just the right locations icing on this wonderful cake. The trees just frame this up perfectly! This is one of those WOW images for me.
A lovely photo. Amazing that you took this at 48mm! It must have been wonderful to be there. A good point by Dennis about being a little tight on that one group. I can also see two really nice pano crops here. There is so much to see in this photo. And a lot of dof at 2.8. Really good.
Really nice wide angle Environment photo.
The red in the sky may have been true but it looks a bit bright for the scene and my eye instantly goes there. It highlights the bird in flight but I would still tone it down if it were mine.
Keith - absolutely stunning! I love the golden light just before the sun breaks through and the silhouette of the cranes is perfect. I’d love to know how you trained the one to fly past you at just the right altitude- . Thanks for sharing.
. Thanks for sharing.