My First Ruddy Turnstone

[Geoff Shapiro]

I live on the west coast inland from the ocean so I don't get to see as many shorebirds as I'd like. It took a trip out to visit my son in West Palm Beach for me to get acquainted with a few species I'd never seen before, like this one.

Here is a Ruddy Turnstone photo that I believe I took at the beach near Hobe Sound (I can't quite remember but it sounds right).

20D, 300/4 + 1.4x, ISO 100, 1/1250 @ f7.1
(Please tell me if I oversharpened this - it happened on my last post and now I'm unsure)

http://gshapiro.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/_mg_070508_7317.jpg

[Paul Davey]

This is a neat image. The clean, refreshing and pleasant background is excellent - quite an unusual viewpoint for this bird. It looks quite sharp to me, but I refuse to digitally manipulate any of my photographs, so I do not have anything to say on that matter. What I don't like is the stark black eye. A catchlight would coincide nice with the background. Maybe some flash next time?

Again, nice photograph.

Paul

[Geoff Shapiro]

What I don't like is the stark black eye. A catchlight would coincide nice with the background. Maybe some flash next time?


Thanks for your comments, Paul. It is very interesting that you mention the stark black eye. I took perhaps 30-40 images of this individual and one other. I just went through all of them and there was not one image that had a catchlight in the eyes of these birds. Not one, and I have images from all angles. It almost makes me think that there is some quality of the eyes of these turnstones that makes the reflections off their eyes different than for other birds. Any turnstone experts out there?

[Paul Davey]

Geoff, my only guess is that this image must have been taken on a cloudy/overcast day? If so, then the chances of getting light in the eye solely from this natural light are poor. I think 300mm may be close enough to effectively use flash in such conditions.

Paul

[Geoff Shapiro]

Paul, it was a cloudless and quite sunny day. The image was taken at about 2 in the afternoon. :confused:

[Paul Davey]

Okay, I must have missed the shadow. Either way, shooting at that time of the day, when the sun is in the middle of the sky, is not a wise step in the direction of lighting. The few hours after/before sunrise/sunset work best - it is then the sun is at either side of the sky and down low. But directly overhead, there won't be much sidelighting and catchlights! Best to receive some professional feedback now, I think.

This is where I leave you. Happy shooting and kudos to a good photograph!

Paul

[Alfred Forns]

Geoff I like the image a lot The framing is great with the little bit of color in the corner Would have liked to see the bird a little more toward the lower left corner Great seeing a little more and so nicely done !!!!!

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Nice angle and pose. The light looks a bit harsh and a catch light would make it even better.