Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Grus americana

Voting period is over. Please don't add any new votes. Voting period ends on 23 Sep 2010 at 06:08:18 (UTC)

 
Original - The Whooping Crane, Grus americana, is an endangered species with an estimated population of 535. This individual, resident at the Calgary Zoo, is one of an estimated 152 captive birds worldwide.
Reason
It is high resolution, with clear details visible in the head, feathers, and surface of the legs. I was lucky with this shot, as the bird was doing its own thing and didn't seem to mind me creeping up to him only a few feet away, and also because it was overcast, so I didn't have to worry too much about blown highlights.
Articles in which this image appears
Whooping crane, Endangered Species Act, List of birds of Nebraska
FP category for this image
Birds
Creator
Sasata
  • Thanks for the comments. HDR is something I'm just starting to figure out, and I agree, some bracketed exposures and Photoshop twiddling would have helped this out. Still learning. Sasata (talk) 04:55, 15 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  • I tried brightening, but couldn't do it well enough to not have the highlights on the top of the bird blown out. Perhaps someone more adept in Photoshop could give it a go? (I have the RAW file too). Sasata (talk) 18:14, 17 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  • I think the problem is the lighting itself, not the brightness. The highlights are all concentrated in one area (the back of the bird), thus leaving the rest of the picture rather dark and lackluster. Kaldari (talk) 01:43, 18 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Not promoted --Makeemlighter (talk) 02:24, 24 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]