Oystercatcher Take-Out

[Roman Kurywczak]

Early morning at Nickerson beach.............thanks Freddy!!!................doing birds in flight...when this guy went on beach........Canon Mark 3 with the 1.4 tele. and the Sigma 300-800 at 1023mm at f8 and 1/2500 sec. Always looking for action! Like the open bil in the clam! Debating the seaweed in back!
As always comments welcomed and appreciated

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Exposure control, details and pose/action look great, the bill looks a bit oversaturated and the seaweed on the right could go. The BG is a bit noisy and there is a slight S/H halo around the head. If you do curves adjustment in the RAW converter this usually does not happen.

[Doug Brown]

Agree with Axel's observations, but I think it's a nice photo! Love the shell, the exposure, and the sharpness! I too would remove the seaweed on the right.

[Robert Amoruso]

I vote for removing the seaweed and desaturating the red. Great pose with the shell.

[Steve Canuel]

Hi Roman,
I like the pose, details, light, and the focused attention on the clam. Bill does look a bit bright. I'd get rid of the seaweed on the right but keep the one around his feet for a bit more splash of color. I also like the bit of water creeping in on the left but find those three bits of shells distracting, not because they're there but because they look like they're levitating.
Steve

[Daniel Cadieux]

It may be an illusion, but it feels like the image needs a very tiny bit of CCW rotation? I also agree with previous suggestions too. Nice feeding pose, and good control of the balcks and whites :-)

[Ed Erkes]

Very nice image of interesting behavior!! My only criticism is that the red might be oversaturated, but that is a personal decision!. I disagree with the other comments: I'd leave the seaweed and other shells---this is a natural scene and I don't find them distracting. I also don't think there is excessive noise or sharpening halos. Also, we can't tell whether the image is level or not (since there is no horizon line to judge by) and we don't know what the slope of the ground is. This is another case where I think the critics can't see the forest (the image as a whole) because they are too busy studying the bark on individual trees. OK. I'll get off my soapbox now.

[Fabs Forns]

Beautful capture, Roman, Agree the red needs to go down a bit. I like the seaweed.
For my taste, it's abit tight all around, OC is a big bird that needs a bit more space.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Beautful capture, Roman, Agree the red needs to go down a bit. I like the seaweed.
For my taste, it's abit tight all around, OC is a big bird that needs a bit more space.

That is a good idea. If it were cropped wider, and the seaweed were not clipped it might look great.

[Maxis Gamez]

Hi Roman,

Everything said. I would clean everything up and leave the green.

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Great image Roman and the shell really makes this one for me. I agree a larger crop and the seaweed adds another dimension to this beautiful capture. Good suggestion from above. Thanks for sharing.

[Beth Goffe]

Hey Roman, beautiful oystercatcher working on his meal. I'll leave the critique to the experts above but I can tell you that a co-worker was also very taken with this image.

[Glenn Bartley]

Very nice. A bit tight. But I like it.

[Nikolay Staykov - shotlandetsa]

Very good image Roman! Just a little bit soft, why keeping such a speed in favour of f/8? f12 would bring more detail here.