Wow man the exposures on these are amazing, you seem to balance the sky and the subject so well.

Ant -
Very nice images from your trip down to SoCal. I have to agree with others that shot #5 is the pick of the crop. That Hummer in shot #1 is a attention grabber too.
Happy New Year.
- Ken

Sorry for the late post my friend, sure I take couple of days off and you decide to post Simply said awesome, gorgeous and crisp captures.

Garen

Hi, all of these are stunning...my wife just ooed at them....so I made the point of suggesting I would be as good if I had your gear....a complete lie, but you never know how it might influence wife's purchasing ear :-)))!!

One question though. On number 6. Did you pan with the bird, or did you wait until it came into shot??

Thanks

Hey look who's back...little red riding hood
Ant i'm seeing some slight hues in your skies (magenta in #9) and a bit of green in #5...but is barely noticeable No need to make a drama out of it
You really nailed these buddy...what a show specially the raptors and KFs sure looks like it was worth the trip! some of your best shots I've seen from you...maybe you should go down again

Dang Ant, put a white head on that monstrous hummer and you got yourself an eagle! Super series with 5, 6 and 8 being my favorites, very nice.

Doug

It seems like the west coast is full of Fredmiranda nature shooter run-ins. So, who is going to design the name tags?

I had to scroll right a bit on your hummer I guess I could use a bigger screen too

Awesome shots, especially the PF and NH.

2, 5 and 7 rock! I defer to Karl on the blue-sky stuff -- blue skies drive me nuts too. But then, so do gray skies. And white skies. But NOT foggy skies. So there.
Smooches
S

Jeeez some guy comes down from da North woods with a couple Moose whackers and makes us southerners look kinda foolish with our lil pea shooters! Grrreaatt work Anthony!! Glad to have met you..sorry about that lil monopod..I had to go out and buy a heavier one the next day! ! Happy New year!!! I'll probably be passing through the North woods shortly and will catch up with ya perhaps!!...Scott

I'm confused the Antzz crawled to BC via L.A.?
...and you got these from your kayak?
You do have a variety of "blues" but they look fine to me.
Love #4, 5 & 7 the best.
Happy New Year, dear Grasshopper......missed you
and howdy to your better-half

in gratitude,
Nelcha

Sir Dave,

finally, and congrats on the KF. As you know about the skies......slight level adjustments will alter that blue very easily, so if you have a series in the same area suggest pp for sky consistency and then selectively take care of your subject. These skies look quite good IMO except for the cyan looking one in #4......looks like some blue desat was done and left that behind. Not a good idea to use hue/sat on skies, the hue mix is too complicated. Better IMO to use a levels adj on the skies, usually just bringing in the high side after colorbalance is done Seems you may have oversharpened #7 a bit. I like those belted KF a bunch....got more? Good luck with your calibration

Hey thanks for the C & C Dave > It's appreciated. And as usual you are spot on. After my calibration the blues just looked so far off it threw off my entire PP workflow. I was fixed on it being a WB Problem and started using a Photoshop WB workflow to fix the problem. It didnt' seem to be helping so I went to Saturation to fix it...... In some images it helped and others it did not............. I totally left out my normal workflow out of frustration >> The first thing I normally do in PS is Levels......... ughhhh I went back and worked the Kestrel image again and levels was dead on............... ughhhh again !!

I am not seeing the oversharpen on 7 but your eye is much better than mine. Sorry about that

I do have more of the KF but they are same perch just different head positions.........

Thanks buddy I appreciate the direction

ant

Socrate,

I'm at the river house and can't comment on the colors as I'm using my laptop. For what it is worth colors look generally good and doesn't appear to be any problem with them . The only problem I see is with the photographer. JK The Kestrel and the KF look great. I found the angle on the Falcon a bit too steep, but that is the way it is. Beautiful detail in the Hummer. Socrate

Sorry your away Socrate. Thanks for commenting from your laptop though. Your right about the steep angle of the Falcon >> But hey >> It's my first images and I was posting them regardless

thanks for the kudos sir

ant

Zoomster,

BC infected by Antz - I wonder if Antibiotics would fix that You got a couple of keepers on this set. I let you have all the fun on #6 and will let you take all the glory, even if I have about 10 shots for the same location that probably blow yours away - I was more interested in the good burds we got that day Beware of the monstor Hummer - on my screen it looks like it's about 10x nornal size - Wow! I see some of your best stuff came from the afternoon trip out to BC where you got some great shots of the paparazzi loving peregrine and the killer Harrier - both captured nicely. I think the Kestrel is over sharpend a tad and that is a very interesting crop decision Fun Stuff Ant. If you decide to come down I'll show you the secret yak country that no one else ever exploits - Osprey and harriers almost gauranteed.... If not this weekend then the next good weather break if you're up for it. Zm Zm

Thanks Zoom. Yea I couldn't resist posting that hummer for widescreens
The afternoon was a good shoot > Wish you could have been there buddy.
Dave mentioned the over sharpening on the Kestrel also >> I'm just not seeing it > Looks fine to me >> But my eyes aren't trained as well as Dave and yours. I guess it
takes time and more experience.......... I guess

Lookin forward to Yak City > The wife wasn't feeling well and I decided to stay home
and baby her a bit. If she gets to feeling better I may try to sneak down for a few dayzz

Ant

Roger,

Should I expect to see you tomorrow evening then

That would be a FUN Trip my friend !!
I'll have to make plans and bring my long johns

Ant

Kirk b for buuuuudy,

Hey Ant... Happy New Year man! It was a total blast getting to shoot with you... you can crash our picnic anytime buddy. Glad you finally got calibrated, these look f-ANT-astic on my uncalibrated laptop... Absolutely sick detail and color on King Hummer. Very nice shotz of the welcoming committee... great pose in #3. PF Flyer in #4 is excellent... nicely exposed, super sharp, great eye contact... bomb.com dude. Love that golden light in #5... sweet moment there, great detail. I like #6 a lot... would like it even better if you cropped it about mid-mud... Karla -nit. Kestrel is a beauty... congrats on the first! KF's are awesome, loooooove the first one... No IF's Not to worry, I got those with my Nikon gear. Nice work on the PF chillin'... maybe next time he'll come down and take a closer look at the Antman. Excellent series man... keep 'em coming... Kirk P.S. Can't wait to see your CWW's... Bad Zoom... very bad Zoom...

LMAO You a funny guy Kirk
Yea you did get the IF KF for sure. I should have been carrying the Mark II N for B/U with the 100-400 or the 400 on it.......... Oh well At least you had my back bro

Thanks for the Kudos Mr B it was a pure blast shootin with ya. I hope we can do it again
some time soon!!!!

ant

Ant,
WOW! These are all looking pretty darn stellar man.
Lighting and detail on the NH is sweet. KF shots look great with good detail.
I like the frame on the Kestral and the complimentary colors, and detail in the bird are very pleasing. Love the pose in #5. BC looks great, thanks for posting him large.

JayT

Rob Tillyer,

Hey it was worth the wait Ant, awesome job on all of these. And it appears the L.A. group survived the Antattack. The hummer and the kestrel are super, but I reserve my favourite for both of the kingfisher shots. Very nice. Rob

Well I hope the Ant Attack didn't damage anyone beyond healing
It was an awesome time and I'm amazed at the wildlife available to photograph.
Thanks for the kind comment Rob I appreciate it very much. Glad you enjoyed them.

Ant

JJBUB,

Hi Anthony, Super shots. Enjoyed them all. My very favorites are: #5, 7, 11 & the Kingfishers. Thanks for sharing.

HI ya Cris!
Glad you liked and enjoyed them and thanks for commenting.
Always nice to see your comments.

Ant

Hide,

Ant, I was wondering when you would post the shots from your trip to So.CA and after I saw all these stunning images, I bet 7 hour drive to So.CA was worh it! It's hard to pick my favorite but #5 is my pic. Hide

It was worth it Hide and I appreciate your commenting. Your Hummer images are stellar!!

Thanks

Ant

Chad,

Ok here is my sincere C&C to help ya buddy. Too many crops with the subject being on the left or lower left of the image, if you have too many facing subjects to the right try flopping the image in PS and have them face to the left great trick (I used this in my sucky spoonbill post) Falcon is nice and sharp (on the breast feathers that is) next time focus on the head, also, too low of perspective for me.. sorry... if you have to tap your focus point with the joystick. I know you liked playing with my joystick in YS. LMAO

You were right about one thing >> Your Spoonbill shotz did suck

Ausmr,

Hi Ant, great series. I like the monster hummer and the falcons the best. Very careful brilliant PP with lots details and smooth tones. Nothing wrong with the sky on my (calibrated with Eye-One) monitors: all hues of blue you've presented are acceptable ... -mirek

Wow thanks for the huge boost in confidence Mirek
I thank you kindly sir.
Glad you enjoyed them
thanks for the super comment

ant

Mohammed,

Wow man the exposures on these are amazing, you seem to balance the sky and the subject so well.

thanks so much Mohammed for your comments. I tried really really hard
I probably post processed each of these photos 5 times each...... ughhhhh
I just didn't have a lot of confidence my calibration was right. I think I'm over
it now

thanks again

ant

fwyflyr,

Ant - Very nice images from your trip down to SoCal. I have to agree with others that shot #5 is the pick of the crop. That Hummer in shot #1 is a attention grabber too. Happy New Year. - Ken

Hey ken >> We tried to find you at BC. You weren't at your "Perch" on the bridge
Hopefully we can cross paths next time. I don't know how you get any shooting done
down there > Everyone is so friendly I think I'd wind up chatting most of the time and miss the shot....... over and over ...........

Happy New Year and thanks for commenting Ken

ant

Garen,

Sorry for the late post my friend, sure I take couple of days off and you decide to post Simply said awesome, gorgeous and crisp captures. Garen

Well the important thing is you dropped by Garen. And I like your choice of words

I thank you sir

Ant

Hard to pick a favorite Anthony, these are all excellent. Nice work dude.
Gene