Long-billed Curlew

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Sony A900~Sony 500 F4 G~Sony 1.4x~ISO 1000~F6.3~1/2000~manual exposure~hand-held~Texas City Dike~12-19-2012-CS6
There are a few grassy areas on the dike. Rarely are there long-billed curlews, and only in the winter. Comments and critique welcomed. regards~Bill


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[Miguel Palaviccini]

William, I like the habitat in this shot. Looks like you were just low enough to get a very pleasing bg. The colors mesh well with the Curlew. You got a great head angle and nice detail throughout. I think you can add just a tad more sharpening to the eye area. Besides that, it's a splendid image.

[PhilCook]

Very nice indeed, liking the habitat, low angle is excellent as is the head turn, I myself find the sharpening just right. I tried to photograph there last Monday on the mud flats and couldn't get within 100 metres

[Dan Busby]

Lovely Bill. Nice habitat, IQ and crop. The eye looks very slightly hazy - perhaps a bit of selective contrast and addition of black to it?

[Robert Holguin]

Nice shot.
Great shooting angle, very nice pose, I really like the habitat, and great comp.
Agree on the eye.
Well done.

[Karl Egressy]

Beutiful bird, love the habitat and I wish to see more of it at the top and left.

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

A very special bird! Finally was able to see it until this year!

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Appreciate the comments, and agree there is a problem with the eye. Took a close look at the RAW. There doesn't seem to be an OOF issue, it looks OK, and I don't see this problem with the full sized image. It appears the area, including eye lashes and parts of the eyelid visible when the eye is open, is almost as dark as the eye itself and downsampling leads to a merging of these. Could use the adjustment brush in ACR to create a bit of seperation.

[Satish Ranadive]

Excellent image of Curlew in nice grassy environment.Wonderful color scheme.
Love the pose,HA and great details.Nice composition too.

Regards,
Satish.