Theme: Least Sandpiper Wing Stretch

[Noel Heustis]

This image of a Least Sandpiper stretching was taken at Ft. Desoto, FL. I thought this was a Dunlin when I took it, but when I got it home it looks more like a Least Sandpiper to me. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

The image was taken using a Canon 7D mark ii and a 100-400mm ii lens at:

400mm
ISO 100
ƒ7.1
1/640th of a second

I processed it in LRcc by:
-boosting the exposure by 0.36
-slightly boosting the shadows and the whites to move the histogram a bit further to the right.
-i added +50 sharpening to the subject

Thanks for taking a look!

~Noel

[William Dickson]

Pretty cool pose you captured here Noel. Good POV. But, I think there is too much going on in the BG which distracts my eye from the subject.

Will

[Bob Smith]

A nice low POV with good focus on the subject Noel. I think I'd try removing the dark streak of junk above the head.

[Glenn Pure]

Lovely 'bird in it's environment' shot Noel. As already noted, the background and foreground is rather busy with all that seaweed so the bird does get a little lost but your low POV helps to provide some separation. Detail looks excellent but in this case, I think you would have been safer with a higher ISO and faster shutter speed to reduce risk of dud shots, especially as you've had to boost exposure in post processing. Better to over-expose a little but watching the whites don't blow out. Wing stretch adds a nice bit of interest for me.

[Noel Heustis]

Thank you all for sharing your thoughts. I tried to removing some of the seaweed from the beach in PS using the patch tool and really just made a mess of it. I'll rework it a few more times to practice using this tool. I think my key take away here is to pay more attention to the BG when choosing a spot on the beach (very easily within my control). Also, I'll try higher ISO's under these conditions.