I would love to see SHC , very nice shot. Wonderful colors and background. I like what Larry did also.

Birdie

A pleasing image, Karl. I just would try to do something with the eye for the rest a lot of good techs with the angle, isolation and color rendition Welldone!
Socrate

Ed Robertson wrote:
I'm first
Wonderful shot my friend .All the very best of the season. Ed

Thanks Ed and wonderful to hear from you 'drummer boy'

Best to you my friend!
Karl

Thang wrote:
fantastic shot Karl! Didn't even know flash was used!

Hey stranger, thanks for the nice words buddy, hope all is well for you!
Karl

Tim Kuhn wrote:
Very cool shot my friend!!!

I do like this one a lot Karl. For me the background makes the shot, I think it's worth calming down the white band. If you want uber nits I'm your man Run some nr on the under tail and work the flash catch light so it's not a donut. And if I'm going to really nitty... copy some grass to cover the path.

Okay, I gave you a rough time, this shot really doesn't deserve it. I was just treating this as if it was mine and you were in my head while I was processing it.

Excellent work Karl I would never dream of riding anyone else on the forum this hard but you my friend are worth it.

Tim

And I thought we were 'friends'

The white band (horizontal) was burned in to darken, to me it looks OK? However I guess it could go even more.

The eye, well I do need new glasses honestly and the harder I looked and after seeing Larry's re-edit surely tells me there was room for improvement

Funny about the small gravel patch, it was on my mind to do and I overlooked it!

I'm not seeing the noise enough under the tail to address it but again, a reminder that may not be seeing as well as I should, it definitely was not under exposed there but 1600 will leave it mark on these files

You are 'nit-magnificent' on your observations and suggestions Tim, I'll owe you one

Thanks and ohhhhh that felt good to be ridden that hard!
Karl

marklankton wrote:
Karl, your hair & makeup artist is very good! Like we say about owls, any Sandy shot is a good shot. We see a lot of photos from New Mexico, and some from my other favorite stomping ground in Monte Vista, Colorado, but they are wide-ranging birds. I'm told there is a good spot near Fairbanks, Alaska. Personally I saw my very first ones in Titusville, Florida, at a distance of about 10 feet. I backed off; those beaks look sharp!
Mark

Thanks Mark I hope Tim didn't steal any of your thunder on tossing in some nits

Karl

jfwoodman wrote:
Karl, that's a wonderful Sandy. You must have been pretty close to get this one. Rarely have I seen Sandy shots with such detail. What a treat!

Jim

I could be as close as I wanted to them but that might not be a good idea! I did take some other shots with a shorter lens too. They are cool to be so close to.
It was just a day where I didn't feel there was enough light to satisfy me if I were to see anything so I made my mind up it was a 'beamer day' if it was gonna work.

Thanks Jim
Karl

Thomas Sanders wrote:
I'm glad this ones GPS is broken buddy
I have to echo Mr. Woodman's sentiment Karl, the detail and color is really sublime and your illumination skills are on display here as well A bit o light sure helps the DOF at almost wide open too Think of the air fare to NM you are saving too

Big winner buddy
Tom

Well Tom I have a few memorable flash shots and many that are botched but what the heck, give it a go again! My 500 tested sharpest at f/4.5 so lucky me I get a profile shot to make it work to my advantage
Thanks for the good vibes my friend.............loving the MKIII
Karl

gregfountain wrote:
Excellent contribution indeed! Nice Karl!

Greg



Thanks kindly Greg
Karl

Excellent work, Karl.
The sandy looks super and all those bands of differed BG colors is very beautiful.
Chris

Nice work Karl
Love the composition, detail and BG. Maybe we'll both get a chance to see Bosque someday.

JayT

Cool shot Karl, even better with the eye fixed and you might consider fixing the gravel too.
Unfortunately no Sandies around here, I have to make do with the crows
Martin

sritri wrote:
Lovely shot Karl and a catchlight to die for !


Thank you Shreeni, nice to hear that buddy!
Karl

thomas_1950 wrote:
That's one splendid image with super detail, colors and exposed just right.

Keep em coming,
Tom

My thanks Tom for the kind words
Karl

Awesome shot Karl, beautiful low angle! You took great opportunity when it's there.

I like your color treatment better than Larry's. His felt a little bit too cold for me, I like the warmer side ...

Happy Holidays my friend,
Khai

mitesh wrote:
Everything about this image is fantastic- superb job using the flash!

For me it is always a fine line between good and bad flash This one I liked too.

Thanks for the nice comment!
Karl

What a wonderful shot Karl, I really like this image sure there may be a few nits but overall this is image superb my friend.

John

kmunroe wrote:
a great shot Karl.. i like the BG also


Thank you Kenny, the BG color is pretty amazing and is a surprise to me. May be the result of the Auto White Balance compensating for the flash which altered the un-flashed areas WB I think?

Take care buddy
Karl

surfnron wrote:
Very well done Karl. The exposure is spot on and the sandy looks great. I'll leave the "super nits" to Tim, but the reflection in the eye does draw my eyes ~ Ron


Ya, Tim got it covered pretty well

Thanks Ron for not adding to nits

Karl

Larry Williams wrote:
Karl Witt wrote:
It has been wonderful to see all the Sandy images from Bosque and great to hear that several FM'rs migrated to Bosque also

I recently mentioned that I have never seen more than 'two' Sandhills at one time, well again today in somewhat of a strange morning gloom both our Sandies were strolling along the pathway! I isolated one (half of them ) for a little Beamer shoot.....................so here is my local contribution to the wonderful Bosque images and the Master of Ceremonies 'Monkey' who seems to in charge of entertainment and guidance!

Comments of any type or questions always welcomed
Thanks for stopping by..............

Karl


Hi Buddy,

What a super photo. Looking at your photo in a very friendly way, I took the liberty to adjust 3 "very little" things to it. 1. The eye seemed to be to silvery, probably due to the flash. 2. The area above the red of the head seemed to drift my eye away from the head. 3. Changed the edging of the head a bit to enhance it a bit more.

I don't write as well as you, but just thought that I would express my very humble thoughts to you.

Larry


Larry Larry Larry, you did the shot just fine my friend and thank you for doing so. I really struggled looking at the eye but just couldn't see the right way to making it better so I left it alone. I'll have to look at what happened just above the beak??
I have one 'nit' for you..............why didn't you also fix the gravel spot

Thanks for talented edit, looks good to me though you may have gone a few steps more with sharpening which looks borderline to me, did you also add a bit more color on the red and orange on the head, strangely the color was a bit flat on the original and I brought it up a bit in post.
Nice one my friend....
Karl