Lesser Yellowlegs

[Jake Levin]

The bird was foraging opposite a flock of short-billed dowitchers and took a leg-up pose for a minute to preen. They are perhaps the least-creatively named shorebird in the world, but at least the name is appropriate...those neon yellow legs certainly do stand out! Please let me know your thoughts, C&Cs.

5D mkIV
500mm f/4 IS, 1.4x TC III
1/1600 @ f/8, ISO 400
ACR/Photoshop: took out a few OOF spots in the water and did just a little detail work on the head and neck (I can't tell if my sharpening for the jpg is off though), plus some added canvas at the bottom.

Happy finally spring,
Jake

[David Policansky]

I love this image. I know this is a critique forum, but I have nothing to criticize about it.

[John Mack]

Like the raised foot and the vertical crop. Wish the reflection was more mirror like but i know you need exact conditions for that.

[Isaac Grant]

Nice pose and I really like the way the water in the fore and background merge together. Looks like where you added canvas you didn't do a proper fill as there are black lines visible on the lower left and top middle. Also I think the white balance is off just a little as these birds are a little more brown and white and not gray and white. So pick a little warmer white balance and you should be perfect.

[Jake Levin]

I saw those lines as well, as soon as I put the jpg up! After more than a few shots where someone has mentioned that the white balance seems a bit off to the cool side, I'm wondering if perhaps my rig simply skews a bit cool? Ever heard of something like that? My monitor calibration could be off as well, but according to the Xrite software I use it's bang on. Hmm....

[David Policansky]

Seems to me you could crop those lines out pretty easily. I didn't even notice them but for sure they are there. Should be easy enough to test your camera's WB. Were you using Auto WB? By the way, I think the bird's shadow on the water is very nice.

[Jake Levin]

I've already fixed the lines in PS. I always, without exception, have the white balance on auto unless I am intentionally trying to warm up a sunrise or sunset, in which case I go to the K option and pick a value between K7000 and K8000.

[Isaac Grant]

Hey Jake, I am not sure what is going on. Could be your monitor or the rig, or even a difference on what people like to see. I went back to the image and looked again and the shot looks thin to me and on the cool side. I had to mess with it a bunch to get it somewhere close to where I think it should be in terms of what a Yellowlegs looks like in blue water. I went into curves and put the white point dropper on the white of the belly and that changed the look of the shot a great deal. Then did some minor adjustments to the blues, mid tones on the bird and some highlight and shadow adjustments. Thoughts? As usual doing these adjustments are much easier on the RAW and not on the small file that was posted. I still do not think it is right but it is closer to where it should be.

[Jake Levin]

One thing I will mention is that the water was not blue at all; it was gray, reflecting the high overcast. The bird may have been more saturated but the water colour is more or less as I remember it. I'll keep playing around with the raw.