Afternoon Bask

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Another image from the visit with the avocets here. I got lucky with some flat water and nice light. For this image I went into the pond in my waders and sat till the light was nearly gone.
Canon 1DMIII
Canon 300mm 2.8 with 2X
ISO 800 f9@1/1250 75% of the original frame

[Richard Unsworth]

Lovely light as you say. Nice poses and interaction and perfect composition for the situation

might be tempted to work on the darker area top left corner
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[Stu Bowie]

Hi Cheryl, lovely low angle, and love the eye contact between the two. Well timed to get the raised leg of the avocet on the left, and I feel your central placement works well. The only thing I would change, would be to take a bit off the bottom.

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Cheryl,

Beautiful light and great exposure on the two. For me, it's tough to include two meaningful subjects in one frame, but you've done it well here.

If it were mine, I'd clone out the tree and dark spot on the top left. Otherwise, it's great!

Miguel

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Thanks guys. I agree about the dark spot so I blended it out with a dodge tool and low opacity clone. I like the tree as I felt it added to the natural environment. I also lightened the entire image.

[gail bisson]

Hi Cheryl,
I am still working through all my images from my second outing with you and James and Nicki. Thanks for a fun afternoon.
I like this shot very much. You get bonus points for having 2 tack sharp birds that are well placed in the frame.
Exposure is excellent.
I would get rid of the tree entirely as even in the repost it still drags the eye away especially the reflection(if you are into cloning).
I would also take a bit off the bottom (personal taste)
Gail

[Robert Holguin]

Wonderful shot.
Excellent low shooting angle, two great poses, very nice light, great IQ, and great comp.
Very well done.

[christopher galeski]

Beautiful image cheryl,love the pose of the one with the raised foot, and the look ,nice light,nice low angle,if mine,would clone the tree in the BG out.well done.

[mohammad reza shahab]

lovely low angle,Beautiful pose,light and perfect composition.

[Marina Scarr]

Lovely light and colors, Cheryl. Nice to get both birds tack sharp. I am good with the tree but think in a final version, you can do even better with the dark spot you worked on. Either version in terms of brightness works for me, although I personally usually lean toward a little more contrast but it's really a matter of personal taste. I like the fact that you gave your birds space and focused on their environment.

[vishaljadhav]

Nice image, i think all has been said about this,
What makes this image special for me is both the birds looking at each other and are sharp, fantastic work

[David Salem]

Beautiful shot of my favorite shorebirds. the exposure looks excellent and the two are on the same plane and sharp. I like the HAs on both and the cathlights look great. Look to be natural. I agree with Gail about completely removing the tree. Nice work