Portrait of a Black-bellied Plover.

[Daniel Cadieux]

On a recent stopover to fatten up for the next leg of its southbound migration, this Black-bellied Plover looks to have plumpled up a plenty thanks to a heafty diet of big juicy worms and other invertabrate delicacies! Another low and slow approach allowed me to get close enough to a full-frame head and shoulder portrait of this beautiful bird. Even at f/13 it wasn't enough to get the rounded bird in full focus, but as per usual as long as the face is sharp I'm A-OK with that!:S3:

Canon 7D 100-400L @400mm, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/1000s., f/13, ISO 800, natural light, handheld, FF, minor bill clean-up via patch too, and some eye doctoring of the hazy pupil (burn tool).


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[Chris Martinez]

Stunning close-up portrait.
I can't believe the bird allowed your approach!

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Wow, you always amaze me with what must be your stealth-like approaches! Great detail throughout and a very nice portrait!

[Grace Scalzo]

What a chubby bird. Super pose and composistion, I like how the depth of field falls away.

[Bill Dix]

Wonderful detail on the head, nice comp and head turn. This fellow had better start flying while he can still get off the ground.

[Jon Swanson]

I like the over the shoulder look. And the detail and exposure is spot on. Well done~!

[gareth thomson]

Congratulations on the stealth approach. Must have felt great to get that close. Nice composition, lighting, and BG. Love the feather detail on the neck and head.

[Robert Holguin]

Excellent shot.
Excellent head and light angle. Terrific details, great comp, and I really like the background.
Very well done.

[David Salem]

Great portrait. Detail on the head is Awesome. Exposure looks perfect and the BG is very complementary. Nice to get that close. Excellent work!

[Shawn Zierman]

Very nice close up of this cooperative plover. The light quality is crisp, as are the details.
I like the effect of the bg variations that clearly indicate water...
This is a scenario where zooming out a bit to get more dof then cropping for this compostion in
post is worthy of consideration over shooting a full frame image with the large oof wing
section in the fg...

[Frank Schauf]

Beautiful portrait, great details and eye contact, Daniel.

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the HA, details, sharpness, eye contact and exposure. Well done Daniel!

[Jon Rista]

Amazing shot! I love the lighting on its beak, wonderful. You have some serious "low and slow" skill there, Daniel! Serious skill!

[Satish Ranadive]

Daniel Sir:
Wonderful portrait.Love the great details,colors and composition.

Regards,
Satish.