Least Sandpiper

[Carolyn Arnesen]

I took this last August as a small flock of Least Sandpipers was foraging in and near the edge of a stream. I sat on the ground to watch them as they made their way toward me. As long as I remained relatively still, they were not bothered by my presence and went about their business around me.

EOS 7D 420.0mm 1/640 sec F5.6 ISO 800 Not quite FF - Sharpened bird and adjusted tone, noise reduction on background, lightened a dark spot in the ULHC

C & C welcome.

[David Kenny]

Carolyn,
It is amazing how close these guys will come if you laydown or kneel down and stay still. I wish all birds behaved like that. I like the crop and still being able to see the environment. I like the comp how the bird is unfazed by your presence. The image looks nice and sharp. There is no eye contact but I think that is fine here because of the behavior you are showing IMHO. Lets see what others have to say.

-Dave

[Diane Miller]

A very pleasing image. The ground is soft and artistic. Good for you to be out there sitting and waiting for something good to happen!!

I sort of wish the head was up a little as it is a little bit lost against the ground, but this does show the foraging behavior. This is an example where being flat on your belly does get a better angle.

I might consider a masked curve to throw some fill light (virtual flash) onto the face. See the sticky here "Making Local Adjustments...."

[Carolyn Arnesen]

Thanks, Dave and Diane. I appreciate the feedback.

Diane, the info in your sticky was helpful - I used levels to lighten the birds face.

141635

[Diane Miller]

Glad it was helpful, Carolyn! If you meant to repost to image, it didn't show up -- the reply shows an "invalid attachment".

[Carolyn Arnesen]

Diane, I'm not sure what happened. Here is the repost.
141664

[Diane Miller]

OK -- it worked this time, and I think it's a good improvement. There seems to be a corollary to Murphy's Law that says the face (or other most interesting part of an image) will always be the lowest contrast.