Plover Lover!

[Erik Hedlin]

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2876/9178419951_fc26292bf5_b.jpg

Once again the lighting situation wasn't quite on my side. Despite that, this photo is the first semipalmated plover picture of the breeding season that I'm somewhat happy with.


Canon 7D + 400mm 5.6
ISO 100 f5.6 1/640
lens tripod mount resting on ground

POST:
Straightened/cropped about 3 degrees
Colours warmed up,
A little USM
Slight burning on the whites of the neck (probably needs more)

[Shawn Zierman]

Love the breeding plumage...looks great. The light could have been better, but I would be clicking away here without care or concern about that, had I had the opportunity. One idea at the time of capture would have been to elevate your shooting angle slightly, point the lens down slightly and get more of the colorful sweetly textured ground in focus. A bit of fill flash with this lighting would have worked nicely to balance the ambient..

[Marina Scarr]

Lovely pose and BG/FG on this one. The vegetation is to die for and your low angle really helps to accentuate it. I am seeing a slight blue cast in the whites of your bird which is an easy fix with a color balance layer. I would also take a sliver off of the right hand side.

[Robert Holguin]

Great shot.
I really like the pose, great low shooting angle, nice comp, and love the vegetation.
Light does look harsh, but not a deal breaker.
Well done.

[Bruce Spell]

I really like this shot. I am drawn in by the low shooting angle and the thin layer of in focus ground. The bird looks great and I like the composition.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Sweet image! Love the ground, and the BG looks good (apart from the upper right corner). Excellent head angle. A crop from above would work well IMO. The blue colour cast is easily dealt with here since it is the only blue apparent in this image: Go into Hue/saturation, select the blue channel, and desaturate that channel completely. This is an easy way to deal with it without affecting the rest of the image and without using layers/masks.