American Oystercatcher with clam

[gail bisson]

Canon 1 DX
600 mm VII
ISO 800 SS 1/2000 F 7.1
I saw this guy flying in across the lagoon so trained my camera on him as he landed.
I did so much PP on this image that I will post the original to show you all the hanky-panky that I did.
Comments and critiques always learned from and appreciated with thanks,
Gail

[gail bisson]

No PP on this original

[shane shacaluga]

Thats a great deal of work but well worth it!

Thanks for posting the original. The main subject is sharp well exposed and the item in the beak is a big bonus

Good position within the frame of the processed image

TFS

[annmpacheco]

Hey Gail, just tell those beach bums to ""move it" next time! Whew, thats some fancy footwork you did so well I may add. I like the clam and the detail under the wings. Nice job.

[John Rowell]

Very impressive PP work, this was an awesome exercise. I really like the landing pose, the clam is a big plus and underwing detail looks good to me. My only comment is that the darkest parts seem a little blocked up to me, something unusual in your photos. Still and excellent outcome. What did the OC do with the clam after this shot? Any followups coming along of him breaking that thing open?

[Bill Dix]

A gorgeous finished product; lemonade from lemons. A great exercise in skillful PP. Thanks for sharing it.

[John Robinson]

All been said above gail Well worth the hard work. Good stuff.
John

[Joseph Przybyla]

Looks like you have been crawling on the ground again... smiles broadly. Wonderful work post processing. Love the image with the clam as a bonus. The reflected light from the water opened up the underwings nicely. Strange but I kind of like the other birds in the original image. If the position of the flying bird had been different in the image I might of tried a version keeping them. Thank you for sharing, Gail.

[christopher galeski]

Your PP work is magic,nice detail and landing pose,nice exposure and light.TFS.

[Arthur Morris]

Love the soft light and the sweet pose. Good job with the clean-up. Is the tidbit a clam or a mussel? Was this at Fort DeSoto? a

[Frank Schauf]

Excellent incoming pose and sharp details, Gail.

[arash_hazeghi]

nice landing Gail, good details and exposure
well done

[keith mitchell]

Gail the detail and the exposure on this is exceptional ,clam is a real bonus.

Keith.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Gail, lovely incoming pose with the show of his meal. Well exposed, sharp, and I like how the OC is framed against the smooth upper BG. Brilliant pp work. Its fine to remove the other subjects, but achieving that waterline is master class. :cheers:

[David Salem]

Nice looking frame Gail. The pose and the exposure look great and I like the clam in the beak. Crisp details too.
Good job on the cloning. Did you use only this frame to clone from? Very well done