Previsualization is important, but the truth is—to quote the Rolling Stones—you don’t always get what you want. On this evening I wanted a nice full frame head-on shot of two to four Sandhill Cranes coming in for a landing, legs lowered, wings out. They would be in beautiful evening light. Didn’t happen. They all landed far out in the marsh.
But when reviewing the images on my computer I found one photo with five cranes with their landing gear down…Yes, it was a mile away and in terrible light, but I made lemonade out of lemons. By tightly cropping the image and performing some extreme color shifts in Aperture, I created a pleasing (to me) graphic creation. Is it still a photograph? Sure. Is it faithful to what I witnessed that evening in the marsh? Not totally. Do I like it better than the original shown below? Heck, ya!
Canon XTi, Canon 400mm f5.6, f5.6 at 1/1600, ISO 400, Tripod
The original below:
October 21, 2008
Sparky Stensaas
thesparkygroup@gmail.com
2 responses to “Landing Gear Down”
fountains
March 13th, 2013 at 19:34
Hmm it seems like your site ate my first comment (it was super long) so I guess
I’ll just sum it up what I wrote and say, I’m thoroughly enjoying your blog.
I as well am an aspiring blog writer but I’m still new to everything. Do you have any suggestions for newbie blog writers? I’d
really appreciate it.
Sparky Stensaas
March 24th, 2013 at 13:57
Hi, My only advise is be semi-regular in your blog posts..I try and do 1 to 4 per month. Also, folks love lists…top tens, or??? Only need one photo per blog post. Also make sure to copy to your facebook and twitter accounts every time you post. Have fun!