Allen Kurth
June 2025 - Prairie Chicken Scuffle
About the Image(s)
I used a Sony camera with a 600mm lens wide open at f/4. My shutter speed was 1/2000 sec and the ISO was 160. I was in a hunting blind that had a diagonal strap in a portion of my field of view. The strap shows up in the background bokeh.
This round’s discussion is now closed!
3 comments posted
Great capture...beautiful bokeh. catch light in the male's eye looks amazing.
personally, I don't see the strap. To my eye, the female's legs appear a bit blurry. it might be because of grass blades in the foreground. Posted: 06/13/2025 22:23:53
personally, I don't see the strap. To my eye, the female's legs appear a bit blurry. it might be because of grass blades in the foreground. Posted: 06/13/2025 22:23:53
The action here is wonderful, and the lovely midtones on both birds come through like fall colors. I think that you have captured whatever detail exists in the whites, and the composition leads the viewer's eye directly to the eye of the bird on our right, then around the action.
The diagonal lines in the BG do look like HOM, and under the previous rules might have gotten the image DQd. I think that most judges would be reluctant to give this an award, but the new rules allow for minor unavoidable human elements, and give a lot of leeway to the judges. So you are likely to gain acceptances with this one as is.
Posted: 06/21/2025 13:49:26
The diagonal lines in the BG do look like HOM, and under the previous rules might have gotten the image DQd. I think that most judges would be reluctant to give this an award, but the new rules allow for minor unavoidable human elements, and give a lot of leeway to the judges. So you are likely to gain acceptances with this one as is.
Posted: 06/21/2025 13:49:26
eyes are in focus. There is catchlight on the eyes, framing is excellent..negative space around them is minimal, keeping the focus squarely on the action. To me the image is little over bright, maybe due to little bit of overexposure. There are some out of focus element in the forefront but that is unavoidable if you are shooting low to the ground. Great Work. Posted: 06/21/2025 17:37:08