Marbled Godwit in breeding plumage calling

[Arthur Morris]

From the "500 II Over 600 II? Multiple Stimuli ... And a Fantastic Content Aware Fill Keyboard Shortcut" blog post here. (http://www.birdsasart-blog.com/2017/04/24/500-ii-over-600-ii-multiple-stimuli-and-fantastic-content-aware-fill-keyboard-shortcut/http://www.birdsasart-blog.com/2017/04/24/500-ii-over-600-ii-multiple-stimuli-and-fantastic-content-aware-fill-keyboard-shortcut/)

This image was created on the third morning of the 2017 Desoto Spring IPT with the Induro (https://www.outdoorphotogear.com/search.php?search_query=indurogrand&rfsn=132487.5cf37.9906) GIT 304L/Mongoose M3.6 (http://birdsasart-shop.com/mongoose-action-head/)-mounted Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM Lens (https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/754507-USA/Canon_5124B002_500mm_f_4L_EF_IS.html/BI/6633/KBID/7226/kw/CA5004LISEF2/DFF/d10-v2-t1-xCA5004LISEF2), the Canon Extender EF 2X III (https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/732111-USA/Canon_4410B002_Extender_EF_2X_III.html/BI/6633/KBID/7226/kw/CA2XEF3/DFF/d10-v2-t1-xCA2XEF3), and my very favorite bird photography camera body, the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. (https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1274705-REG/canon_eos_5d_mark_iv.html/BI/6633/KBID/7226/kw/CAE5D4/DFF/d10-v2-t1-xCAE5D4) ISO 400. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop in early morning light: 1/400 sec. at f/11 in Manual mode. AWB.
LensAlign/FocusTune micro-adjustment: -5.
A single AF point four to the right and one up from the center AF point/AI Servo/Shutter Button AF was active at the moment of exposure. The selected point caught the upper right corner of the bird’s eye.

Don't be shy; all honest comments are welcome.

with love, artie

[Juan Tolentino]

Excellent image Artie (as expected) great detail and colors, love the open beak. Thank you for sharing this picture, for your expert advice and for all the resources available on your website.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[John Mack]

killer portrait, love the calling pose and the nice background.

[Alex Becker]

Lovely shot Artie -- great light, pose, details, the beak open makes it. The eye is great here with very nice PP. f/11 worked very well here and the BG is sweet. TFS both this shot and the blog series.

[gail bisson]

Very nice Artie.
Tack sharp with excellent DOF. Love that you were at F11!!
I like this comp because it really emphasizes that long bill but I could also see a version with a bit more at the bottom.
Gail

[Mike Poole]

Lovely portrait Artie, I found these were really co-operative at Desoto.

Beautiful light and the choice to stop down to f11 has really paid off. The open bill is the icing on the cake.

I agree with Gail that maybe a touch more below might be beneficial.

Mike

[Isaac Grant]

Such a unique shot of these fantastic shorebirds. Love the open beak and the jagged edges on the upper mandible.

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

Hi Artie,

Beautiful Image. I like the beautiful out of focus blue background.

I have couple of questions on this image.

1.) Based on Camera Setting you chose for AWB ( Auto White Balance ). Can you help me understand why you choose for AWB. I remember reading one of your blog post in which you mentioned that if the back ground has waves and changing back ground its best to avoid AWB. I regularly avoid using AWB, I like to know your thoughts on the same.

2.) The Tip of the Bird is not in focus, is that because of motion blur or Insufficient depth of field. May be I am mistaken when I say that the tip is out of focus. I like to know your comments of the same.

[Raybel Robles]

Lovel close portrait, love to this with shorebirds! nice light too!

[David Salem]

Killer portrait! A really good subject for a portrait as I really like the Open beak looking into the throat and the killer feather details. Nice colorful background and well composed. Nice to see you posting.

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Artie,

Beautiful Image. I like the beautiful out of focus blue background.

I have couple of questions on this image.

1.) Based on Camera Setting you chose for AWB ( Auto White Balance ). Can you help me understand why you choose for AWB. I remember reading one of your blog post in which you mentioned that if the back ground has waves and changing back ground its best to avoid AWB. I regularly avoid using AWB, I like to know your thoughts on the same.

2.) The Tip of the Bird is not in focus, is that because of motion blur or Insufficient depth of field. May be I am mistaken when I say that the tip is out of focus. I like to know your comments of the same.

Thanks Krishna. With the 1DX and the 5D IV AWB is much more accurate. I would still try to set daylight if the breaking waves were creating large swatches of white. This bird was standing in completely still water so there was no need to do that.

I think that it might be a bit of both, lack of d-o-f and a bit of motion blur, the latter especially because I jerked the lens to keep the bird in the frame when it started calling. Understand also that depth-of-field with a full frame camera body at 15 feet with a 1000mm focal length is less then 1/2 inch in front of the point of focus... Since this is a relatively large bird and the head is turned slightly towards us there was not enough d-o-f to cover the bill tip.

Now ask me if I care ?

with love, artie

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

Thanks Krishna. With the 1DX and the 5D IV AWB is much more accurate. I would still try to set daylight if the breaking waves were creating large swatches of white. This bird was standing in completely still water so there was no need to do that.

I think that it might be a bit of both, lack of d-o-f and a bit of motion blur, the latter especially because I jerked the lens to keep the bird in the frame when it started calling. Understand also that depth-of-field with a full frame camera body at 15 feet with a 1000mm focal length is less then 1/2 inch in front of the point of focus... Since this is a relatively large bird and the head is turned slightly towards us there was not enough d-o-f to cover the bill tip.

Now ask me if I care ?

with love, artie


Awesome, Thank you for the info.

[Joseph Przybyla]

I have looked at this image many times without commenting. I didn't like the composition but didn't have an alternate suggestion. Regarding the bill... it appears in focus on my display. Thank you for sharing, Artie.