Semipalmated Sandpiper Squabble

[gail bisson]

Was lucky to be in the right place, at the right time for this image.
Did a "spray and pray" and got 2 good images out of 23!
Canon 1 DX3, 600mm v.3, 1.4 x v.3
ISO 1600 SS 1/2000 F 5.6
Nothing added or cloned. About 85% FF.
PP: Crop. LR sliders and selectively reduced the highlights on rump of left bird and axilla of right bird. In PS, use Topaz Denoise on BG, Topaz sharpen on birds and luminosity mask on birds. Burned the yellow circle on RHS.
Comments always learned from and appreciated with thanks,
Gail

[Arthur Morris]

Pretty darned neat. Amazing to get two pretty good head angles in a shorebird fight. I can stop looking at the tail of the bird on our right, so neat and clean. Of note: see that the bill of the bird on the right is bent upwards and that both birds have greenish (not black) legs.

with love, a

[annmpacheco]

Super skill here Gail, well done. Love the action, sharpness and HA's. BG is interesting too. keep em comin!

[Randy Stout]

Gail:

Great action, like the comp, exposure well sorted, good POV.

Because the center of attention is in the area where the two birds heads are, I might consider toning down the highlight between the two because it is a bit more distinct than the others. Minor point.

On my screen I wish the left hand birds head was a bit sharper. The near wing seems quite sharp.

But, despite these two minor points, it is the action/interaction that really makes this one sing!

Randy

[Brian Sump]

Gail, first off, lovely lighting and interaction. Beautiful wing position and great job getting them in the same focal plane!

Sharpness looks great to me. You were hunkered down pretty good clearly; it's a bit unfortunate where the land-to-sky transition happens.

Also agree with Randy on the specular highlights between the birds and the one just behind on the left bird.

Awesome as usual!

[Paul Burdett]

Gail, awesome composition! Love everything about this one, the interaction, poses, BG, HA. I agree with Randy's two points. Cheers.

[David Roach]

Those must have been some awesome prayers. You couldn't place them with better interaction/poses to fill this canvas. TFS

ps
Lucky, NOT...

[John Mack]

The interaction is nice. Nice light as well. The low angle is spot on. I see you are using that new AI software.

[William Dickson]

What a moment....I would have loved to capture this. I wouldn't care if the BG etc wasn't the best, just getting this interaction with two waders is spot on...Well done Gail on another eye catching image.

Will

[Daniel Cadieux]

Way to go Gail, this is great!! I love that one claw hooking on the other bird's bill. I agree about removing that specular highlight between the two birds, but man this rocks!!

[arash_hazeghi]

love the interaction, wish the BG was cleaner and that shoreline wasn't intersection the top bird.all else is great

TFS