Sandhill Crane Takeoff

[rpk717]

At Bosque these guys would roost all night in the crane pools and after the sun came up they fly off to feeding areas. They would takeoff in small groups or as individuals. To get airborne they had to run 15-20 feet flapping all the way. This is a tight crop but I like it because of the action.

Brutal critiques welcomed.

[kimberly]

Great action shot! I love the colors. You should title it- "Walking on Water".

[jckegley]

Brutal huh? Ok, here goes... what are you doing out west? You should've been back east in the swamps searching for the Ivory Bill. Bad Robert. Those westerners are strange folk I hope you haven't been brainwashed.

Actually the photo is really fun. I don't see much to complain about.

If I was going to nit pick it would be the white under the eyes. There may be a small loss of detail there. But you have gotten good shadow detail underneath the wings. Because there is a choice to make here between the shadows and the highlights I think you made the right decision. The shadows underneath the wings hold more of an area in the photo. I think the detail you have there is more important than the small white area underneath the eye. And there is detail there, but I bet there was some that was lost.

How's that? That's about as brutal as I can make it. It is a very good shot.

[rpk717]

Great action shot! I love the colors. You should title it- "Walking on Water".
Thanks Kim, I guess I don't have much imagination when it comes to titles. I need to work on that!:)

[ropawi]

Looks good to me. Great shot!:)

[mrsisu]

Very nice image. Its fun to see these birds start to lean forward (they stay that way for a short while) and then they begin to run. Really neat to see 4 or 5 do it at the same time.

[dholstein]

Love it Robert! Very sharp.

[jwuori]

Robert--the colors are great and love the action especially the water coming off the foot. Very different action shot. Joanne

[Photobiologist]

Great action shot.

Brutal? Okay, here are my major complaints- I'd like to see more splash behind & a little more room on the bottom. That is as brutal as I can be on that image.