The Story Behind the Photo

December 2025: Best of 2025

Teri Parks

This ‘Crane Fab 4’ photo was taken in the early morning hours on a cold, foggy day in January 2025 during a quick trip to the Bernardo Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico with fellow RHPC member, Sherri Humble.

There were hundreds (maybe thousands) of cranes waking up in the icy water.  I was sitting on the ground, looking for interesting compositions, when these cranes began taking off in front of me.

This image was handheld with a 100-400mm lens at 132mm, 1/2000 sec, f 5.0, ISO at 2500, using RAW and one of many taken on burst mode.

I edited it with Topaz denoise/sharpening, and Photoshop.  Because the image was so busy and flat, I chose to lighten the background to place greater emphasis on the 4 cranes.  In PS, I used dodge and burn masks to showcase the birds’ feathers.