Sanderling

[nick clayton]

123016

Donna Nook, Lincolnshire, UK. 09/09/12

Canon 7D
Sigma 500mm f.4.5
1/60 @ f5
+1 2/3 EV
Aperture priority
ISO 400
Pattern

levels
curves
saturation
selective colour
Nik Software color Efex Pro 4 - Tonal contrast - subject only
Nik Software Dfine 2.0 - background only
Photoshop USM - subject only


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[Miguel Palaviccini]

Nick, very neat and different shot. I wish you were just a couple of inches higher so that we could see the whole beak and more of the legs. I would take a look at cropping to a large aspect ratio, maybe something like 4:1 or 5:1.

[gail bisson]

Hi Nick,
Welcome to BPN! You will learn a ton here and meet lots of great people.
I like what you were trying to do here- small in the frame, little bird, huge environment but...the fact that you can't see the all the legs and beak really hurt this image.
I also feel you can crop a bit tighter and still get the feel you were looking for,
Gail

[Grace Scalzo]

Nick, Interesting persective. I just think that there is too much empty space, espcially on the bottom. Agree on the need for legs and beak, but your idea is great, so keep working it! Looking forward to more from you.

[Randy Stout]

Nick:

Welcome to BPN!

Good advice from Gail and Miguel. I like small in frame environmental shots, but I def. would crop in a bit tighter, esp. from the bottom, because that area is so featureless.

Classic starting point for small in frame subject is to place the subject at one of the intersection points for rule of third grid. Lots of reasons to try something else, but that is always a good starting point.

Cheers

Randy

[nick clayton]

Thanks for the welcomes and great advice, this is certainly a friendly place to learn, that’s the main reason I decided to become a paid up member. I agree that cropping the image seems the way forward, Miguel's suggestion of cropping 4:1 or 5:1 seems to work well. Unfortunately there’s not much I can do about the legs and beak now. Thanks again for a nice welcome.

[Grace Scalzo]

Nick, there is something you can do about the legs and beak. Go shoot this again. :w3That's what I do all the time when I get suggestions here that I like! It really is a great place to hone your skills and I would also suggest that you offer your thoughts on other images. That's a great way to learn and often fresh eyes like yours lend a new viewpoint and are most welcome.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Nick,
Welcome to BPN!
As others have mentioned.....sometime low is too low as I too would like to see the feet! Other suggestions mentioned.....so minor tweaks may take this up a notch.

[PhilCook]

Interesting and give a good sense of size of these little birds, I always like originality......a slightly higher angle to show feet and beak would of been an improvement I feel. I would also consider cloning out the brownish splotches where water meets sand just for a more simplistic lo ok{ if you are OK with cloning }

[Shawn Zierman]

I like the minimalistic effect here, giving a true sense of how small this bird is within it's
chosen environment. I think there is a bit too much space given to the sand portion of the
image and a judicial crop up from the bottom is worth considering....

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Nick - here is a quick recrop. I ended up using a 2.5:1 aspect ratio. I also cleaned the fg up a bit and darkened the nose and legs where they meet the ground.

[nick clayton]

Thanks for the recrop and other changes Miguel, It's certainly an improvement over the original, but more importantly it's added something towards my knowledge. Thanks for all the comments it's very much appreciated.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Nick I like the idea of the small sanderling in the big landscape setting I think the title explains it all. I note you have not placed the bird absolutely central in the image but I think there is perhaps still little too much sand at the base, for me it is not adding to the image but detracting slightly. I appreciate these are fast little devils and we cannot always get the pose we would ideally want but it is good to see the bird feeding, it would have been even better if the bill was just going in to the sand. I note the bill and legs are a little soft, possibly subject movement or maybe DOF, I would suggest a much faster shutter speed for these active little birds.