Oyster Catcher - Round 2

[David Kenny]

I took this one the other day. It was a cloudy day so not much to work with but any day out with the camera is a good day. I have a tighter shot but I actually liked the room on this one a little better. Canon 100-400L at 340mm Taken hand held kneeling in a little water (tide crept up on me). In LR I adjusted Clarity Slider to +47 and increased the blacks by 2 and a little USM in Photo Shop.

Full Frame
Auto White Balance (came out to be daylight)
iso 200
1/350
F5.6
Single point auto focus

Please let me know what you think.

[Doug West]

I think its excellent. I especially like the Oyster Catcher with an oyster!
These have become one of my favorite birds. I think its the eyes.

Kneeling down did wonders for this shot. You don't have to get on your
stomach for a great eye level shot. The knees is usually just as good.

We'll see what the others think, but I'm on the fence with the composition
as far as the bird and oyster being too centered. My personal preference
is to have them more forward (near the bottom) of the frame, with slightly
more on top.

Doug

[Diane Miller]

Very nice! And they do have lovely eyes!

It could be interesting to see a version with a slight increase in contrast, or at least darkening the darks a little, but hard to know if it would be an improvement without trying it. And maybe you already did.

Composition is always a matter of preference, but I wouldn't add any more on top -- might even take off a sliver and add a sliver to the right. I don't care for the subject to be too close to the bottom if there is nothing happening on top, but you don't want it feeling crowded by the frame, either, especially when the subject is somewhat horizontal as here.

I'd remove the smudge in front of the beak, and the one darker area just at the bottom right of the reflection, so the reflection comes more to an end by the edge of the frame. Nitpicky? Yes, but a good image is worth it!

[Greg Payne]

I like this a lot. Good low angle and I'm ok with the composition. Nice capture.

[David Kenny]

Thanks Diane and Doug I appreciate your honesty.

Doug - I do have one with the bird lower and larger in the frame. It is sharp but not as sharp as this one was and I lacked the reflection as well. These birds are cool looking. I wish I could get close enough for a portrait shot. I didn't even know we had these around until a few weeks ago.

Diane - I have to admit I missed that spot off the bill I will have to get rid of that. As far as the darker reflection I think I would do more damage trying to remove it so that one will have to stay.

-Dave

[Diane Miller]

The one on the bottom is easy! Set the clone tool to about 30% opacity and set a sample point to the left of the spot, father away than the width of the dark area. Make several passes across the area and watch on each one as it fade out. Do that on a copy of the BG layer so you have an out.