Long-Billed Curlew

[Dorian Anderson]

Had to take wife to airport two nights ago. Traffic on return was awful, so I ducked into a new spot to shoot
and give traffic some time to dissipate.

This was the result. Nothing terribly flashy. Just a good look at North America's largest shorebird.

Canon 500mm f/4 IS v1 + 1.4x III on EOS 5D Mark IV
1/3200 at f/5.6, ISO 800, handheld in sand
Processed in LR with selective sharpening on the bird

Cheers
Dorian

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

Nice clear shot of this birdy Dorian! One feels that the BG is a little dark in relation to the bird (as if it was shot with a flash) but it is what it is.

[John Mack]

Nice pose on the bird with some nice light and a low shooting angle. Looks good.

[Isaac Grant]

I really like shorebird shots like this. Shows you did everything right. Nice pose, great background, good eye contact, beautiful colors and the raised foot is nice. Details look good as well. I am not sure if the head look just a tiny bit softer than the rest of the bird of if it just has different feather structure there and it is fine. Honestly can not tell. think it is always better if you have the foot all the way out of the water and back as it is now or striding forward. But this is a solid image of a species I would love to photograph.

[Jay Ing]

Like others have said this one just looks great. LOVE the bold blue background contrasting with the earthy tones of the Curlew... and learned something new... didn't know this is the largest shorebird in NA. Thanks for sharing.

[William Dickson]

What a great looking BG, which shows this bird nicely. I also like the POV, pose and HA.

Will

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

Nice point of View. I do like the raised foot.

Thanks for sharing.

[Glenn Conlan]

The Low angle and beautiful blue BG makes this one really pop, great shot

[Glenn Pure]

Looks like a very worthwhile stopover, Dorian. This one rocks. Love the fantastic pop created by the direct light. I have seen this effect before and it's very attractive. Nice detail and warm tones on the bird and great POV. I might be inclined to desaturate the background a touch (not sure if you have done anything that boosted it though). Either way, I think it would be even stronger as a result... but a minor nit on what is still a stunner.

[arash_hazeghi]

great image Dorian, very nice colors and the low angle workers well here. Tack sharp with great details



TFS

[Daniel Cadieux]

Great light striking the subject. Always a bonus to get a foot out of the water such as here. The deep blue BG works for me. I may be tempted to remove the faint highlight (and its' connected double) touching the breast. All else is superb.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Dorian, excellent low angle, and a great HA too. I really like the overall light in this, colours and detail look good, and the Curlew is nice and sharp. I do like the slightly raised foot, and gotta love the blues of the BG.

[Dorian Anderson]

Thanks for the kind words everyone! I was just stoked to find an obliging subject in a new area!

I did turn down the luminance of the blue channel a bit. That as much as the bump on the blue saturation
helped me to get the most out of that BG. I also thought about cloning out the two big sparkles but ultimately
decided to just let them be in the name of being light-handed.