Sandhill Cranes up close and personal: Cruising around in the early morning in the cornfields near Seymour, IN, last week, came around the bend, and there in front of me were quite a...

GWZ Loc: Bloomington, IN

Cruising around in the early morning in the cornfields near Seymour, IN, last week, came around the bend, and there in front of me were quite a number of Sandhill Cranes in the field feeding away. Closest I have ever been to them - about 30 years or so. Thankfully they did not spook right away. I had about two minutes of picture taking before they decided to move on. Quite a thrill to say the least.

Olympus EM-1 II, 40-150 f/2.8 with 1.4 extender

Enjoy

Gary

(Download)

RCJets Loc: Virginia

Great shots! We don't see those here in VA, at least where I live.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

The low angle with the first three works wonderfully. Very engaging shots!

wham121736 Loc: Long Island, New York

Linda has it right. The low point of view allows the blue sky to provide color contrast so the birds stand out. I tell my students: move up, move down, move left, move right and look for other viewpoints.

RCJets wrote:

Great shots! We don't see those here in VA, at least where I live.

GWZ Loc: Bloomington, IN

wham121736 wrote:

Linda has it right. The low point of view allows the blue sky to provide color contrast so the birds stand out. I tell my students: move up, move down, move left, move right and look for other viewpoints.

Wham, I wish I could take credit for this, but it was that happy circumstance where the cranes were up on a bit of a rise, and the car was a bit lower. I had to get the shots quickly before they left, so that was the perspective for the first three. Just being as close as I was was good enough for me.

Glad you enjoyed them.

Gary

GWZ Loc: Bloomington, IN

Linda From Maine wrote:

The low angle with the first three works wonderfully. Very engaging shots!

Glad you enjoyed them linda.

wmurnahan Loc: Bloomington IN

Nice shots fellow Bloomingtonian.

J-SPEIGHT Loc: Akron, Ohio

GWZ wrote:

Cruising around in the early morning in the cornfields near Seymour, IN, last week, came around the bend, and there in front of me were quite a number of Sandhill Cranes in the field feeding away. Closest I have ever been to them - about 30 years or so. Thankfully they did not spook right away. I had about two minutes of picture taking before they decided to move on. Quite a thrill to say the least.

Olympus EM-1 II, 40-150 f/2.8 with 1.4 extender

Enjoy

Gary

Nice shots.

MT native Loc: Big Sky Country — Montana

I enjoyed your #3 image a lot. The lower angle with the one crane’s neck all stretched out. Nice work.

UTMike Loc: South Jordan, UT

Excellent work, Gary!

fourg1b2006 Loc: Long Island New York

Beautiful set....well done.

jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana

Nice, especially number five.

itsnoelb Loc: Edgewater, FL. Originally: FLINT. MI.

GWZ wrote:

Cruising around in the early morning in the cornfields near Seymour, IN, last week, came around the bend, and there in front of me were quite a number of Sandhill Cranes in the field feeding away. Closest I have ever been to them - about 30 years or so. Thankfully they did not spook right away. I had about two minutes of picture taking before they decided to move on. Quite a thrill to say the least.

Olympus EM-1 II, 40-150 f/2.8 with 1.4 extender

Enjoy

Gary

Fabulous!

grandpaw

Really like the detail in these photos, nice series!!!

Blair Shaw Jr Loc: Dunnellon,Florida

These are beautiful birds indeed . I like them a lot.