Juvenile Buff-breasted Sandpiper.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Boy was I thrilled to have the privilege of photographing this beauty at point blank range (on a bonus day off to boot!!)...the Buff-breasted Sandpiper is considered a rarity in my parts, attracting the local birders / photographers...and some from outside the area too. From what I've read about this species it does not often frequent mudflats like many other shorebirds do...it must have known I like to get down and dirty for my images so of course this is precisely where it hung out. I may have a couple more of this awesome bird to share...:S3:

Canon 7D + 100-400L @350mm, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/800s., f/7.1, ISO 400 (settings histogram checked), natural light, handheld, FF, minor beach clean-up, lightened the already visible iris a mere 4% with the dodge tool, darkened the pupil 8% with the burn tool.

[Ofer Levy]

Would you mind posting a version without any selective manipulation of the eye?

[Arthur Morris]

Killer beautiful. On my monitor it could go a bit darker overall. Love the raised foot, the little mud hill with what is becoming your signature bit of green, and the perfect head angle.

[Sanjeevprakash]

Beautiful shot of the Sandpiper,Daniel.Love the Low angles you have been doing with these Birds.Great Work

[dankearl]

Outstanding IQ, BG and the pose is really good.
One of your best for me.

[Daniel Cadieux]

100% crop, straight tif from raw (converted to jpg for posting). No other processing. Plovers show the iris even more than this in the right light and angle. Yes all these look black to the naked eye from afar and with fast movement, but it is there, and as part of my art I choose to make it visible in my images.

[Karl Egressy]

Great pose, IQ and shooting angle, Daniel.
It is a great bird.
I saw one from shooting distance in 2003, near Presquille P.P.
Some lucky individual took some pictures of one last year at the same place.

[Jack Breakfast]

This is incredibly good and I am vaguely envious of your amazing opportunity with this subtly beautiful bird!! Yes, a great opportunity, and you did your part to capture something truly lovely. Well done, well done!

[Ofer Levy]

Thanks for posting this crop Daniel. It confirms what I am saying all the time. The iris is dark brown as we can see in this repost and not light brown the way it looks in the larger manipulated version. Light looks great in your image so the iris can't look any lighter than this and you must know that movement has nothing to do with the colour if the image is sharp.
I am not sure I see the artistic need to change a bird's eye colour but you can do whatever you like with your images. In this critique forum I will keep on mentioning this IMHO bad practice of "doctoring" eyes the same way I comment about over-saturtation, bad exppsure control etc. For me they all belong to the same category of bad photography/processing.

[denise ippolito]

Daniel, Wonderful capture. The low angle and raised foot are nice. I like the soft blue background. I was lucky enough to photograph one of these at Nickerson last year and it was a thrill for me as they are pretty rare to see here too. It looks a little light as Artie mentioned but I have only photographed one :) Looking forward to seeing more.

[Grace Scalzo]

Daniel,
You took full advantage of this wonderful opportunity and made a great picture. The species is wonderful, pose, background with just a bit of habitat, also terrific.

[Ilija Dukovski]

Great image, wonderful species.

[Roy Priest]

Daniel, lovely shot. I like the motion in the water as he/she lifted her leg. I love the muted colours of the bird, would love to have a pic of this bird.

[Dan Brown]

Beautiful shot and great opportunity, Dan. But you sure messed that eye up:S3:

[Frank Schauf]

Very, very elegant image, Daniel.

[Shawn Zierman]

Gorgeous subject in a great setting, but I really like the subject movement with the raised
foot and water splash. I think you could present the image a bit darker overall with good
effect. To my eye, the image looks like it could use a slight clock wise rotation.
I think the last census I remember reading about this species was done in early 2000's,
and the total estimated number of birds left was less than 20,000. So any encounter
with one is special for sure. One of the great losses of market hunting days, and has never
recovered to the numbers that once were....such a beautiful and confiding species too,
congrats on the encounter.

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Daniel - killer image! Love the pose, the detail, the color! I did notice the bit of green on the mud 'mound' :).

Curious, what do you wear when you go in belly down into the much. I'm looking at investing in something ... just not sure what. Maybe a set of really old clothes?

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Dan, your trademark low perspective has turned out very well again, and Just love the overall IQ and light. You have timed this capture nicely - good HA, and raised foot. Great DOF effect too. Well captured.

[Morkel Erasmus]

super IQ as usual Daniel
love the angle, pose and exposure
nothing wrong with the eye in the OP for me...

[Daniel Cadieux]

Curious, what do you wear when you go in belly down into the much. I'm looking at investing in something ... just not sure what. Maybe a set of really old clothes?

Exactly that...a set of old clothes dedicated to shorebird photogrpahy :-) Oh, and a change of clothes for the drive back home...unless you want your car to reek for weeks (been there done that).

[James Shadle]

Thanks for posting this crop Daniel. It confirms what I am saying all the time. The iris is dark brown as we can see in this repost and not light brown the way it looks in the larger manipulated version. Light looks great in your image so the iris can't look any lighter than this and you must know that movement has nothing to do with the colour if the image is sharp.
I am not sure I see the artistic need to change a bird's eye colour but you can do whatever you like with your images. In this critique forum I will keep on mentioning this IMHO bad practice of "doctoring" eyes the same way I comment about over-saturtation, bad exppsure control etc. For me they all belong to the same category of bad photography/processing.

Dan,
Looks like Ofer is on an island with his opinion of this image.
From where I'm sitting this image looks like excellent photography and more than competent post processing.
James

[Josh Clark]

This is outstanding Dan! Love the raised leg/walking pose. The breaking of the surface tension of the water on the foot really adds lots an already outstanding image. Congrats!

[MohsenVahedipour]

This is a perfect shot Daniel.
Excellent IQ, composition, shooting angle & BG. Also I like the raised foot.

[mohammad reza shahab]

hi
Beautiful shot . great pose and exposure.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Upon second look you may be right about rotation, especially looking at the ground. Thanks also for the info in regards to this species!

Thanks everyone else too:c3:


Gorgeous subject in a great setting, but I really like the subject movement with the raised
foot and water splash. I think you could present the image a bit darker overall with good
effect. To my eye, the image looks like it could use a slight clock wise rotation.
I think the last census I remember reading about this species was done in early 2000's,
and the total estimated number of birds left was less than 20,000. So any encounter
with one is special for sure. One of the great losses of market hunting days, and has never
recovered to the numbers that once were....such a beautiful and confiding species too,
congrats on the encounter.