whimbrel and wildflowers

[annmpacheco]

I chose a 16:9 crop to include this lovely real estate. It was a windy morning and this whimbrel at times had his beak tucked away until he would be turned by the wind like a weathervane; reposition and start over again. The setting was farm fields filled with buttercups, lambs, and other wildflowers.

1 Dx
600mmII
840mm
iso 1600
7.1
1/1000

[Colin Driscoll]

What a pretty picture! Lovely light. Maybe the two oof stems close to the bird could be removed?

[Glenn Pure]

Agree - beautiful light, background and scene. The stems next to the bird don't bother me. I wonder if it would be even better with more of the frame on the right and less on the left (but only by a small amt)?

[John Mack]

Nice light, nice background like the crop as well.

[Alex Becker]

Lovely setting Ann, I also think a bit less on the left and more on the right would help, perhaps cropping on the left around the taller pink flower. Some of the highlights look just a bit bright to me on my screen. Love the multi tone BG too. TFS

[Isaac Grant]

Wow this is such a pretty scene. Really like the bird smaller in the frame in that beautiful setting. I see why you cropped it the way you did to include those nice tall stems. I see a bit of a yellow/green cast to the whole image which is very typical for shots like these. Again I do not know the science behind why it happens but it is something that I always address in post. Lots of way to fix that but the one I use most often is just to go into hue/saturation and lower the yellows and then the greens until you get them where you need them. I also think that the yellow in the left most three flowers is clipped. I know every screen is a bit different but on my screen they seem over saturated. Can be addressed in the same manner, or by decreasing the yellows in selective color as well. Many other ways to do that as well but those are just a few. Also I would increase the contrast on the bird a little to make it stand out more. My impression of Whimbrel (although I have less experience with the European subspecies but don't know which one occurs in Iceland) is always that they are a little more of a brown bird with bolder streaking. Easy tweaks for an otherwise really pretty photo.

[Ashkan Ojaghi]

Looks great and such a beautiful perch. I would consider a tighter crop though! TFS

[Randy Stout]

Ann:

Lovely colors, bg., like the raised perch. I do agree with the others about a small crop from the left.

Interesting distribution of sharpness. The grass is sharp, the knees as well, but breast is blurry and the face a bit. Some motion blur/wind? Not a straight DOF issue, and I wouldn't have expected much blur in a standing bird at that shutter speed.

Cheers

Randy

[Geoffrey Montagu]

Beautiful capture, Ann. Love the slight lean as he copes with the wind. Nice bright overcast light, and I like that you kept some classic Icelandic environment adding to the image. Well done.

Geoffrey




http://http://500px.com/geoffreymontagu (http://http://500px.com/geoffreymontagu)

[Daniel Cadieux]

I'm in the opposite as most here as I would have preferred a bit more room left and LESS at right (equivalent of pointing your lens about an inch or so more to your left). Works as is as well, and as you point out, this is quite a beautiful setting you had this Whimbrel standing in.

[gail bisson]

When I saw this image I thought "I don't remember posting this pic on BPN"!!
A beautiful setting for a rather plain bird. Love your crop.
I would sharpen the breast a tiny bit more but otherwise I like this- especially the line of yellow in the BG,
Gail