Spotted Sandpiper

[Diana Zorrilla]

Hi!
Here is a Spotted Sandpiper from a lake near Monterrey, Mexico.

Date: 04/01/2008
Time: 10:29:02 a.m.
Model: Canon EOS 30D
Lens (mm): 400
ISO: 640
Aperture: 5.6
Shutter: 1/1600
Exp. Comp.: 0.0
Flash Comp.:
Program: Aperture Priority
Focus Mode: AI Servo AF
White Bal.: Auto

[Alfred Forns]

HI Diana You sure had great conditions Love the still water They do give awesome reflections You can use the measure tool to straighten the image (has right tilt) Would try to get in better sun angle to have the entire bird illuminated Face area is a bit dark

The rock is an interesting element As presented it competes with the bird but is just a mater of taste Would be interested what others think Hope you got lots more of this little guy !!!!

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Welcome, Diana! I like the calm surface and reflection. I agree with Al that the rock is a bit dominant and that it needs CCW rotation. If this is not full frame, it might be interesting to see the bird further to the right and to crop part of the rock. Keep them coming.

[Diana Zorrilla]

Hi, thank you very much for your comments, it really helps to hear other people´s ideas and opinions. Yes, I suppose It needs rotation, and I don´t know if I can cut some of the rock, because I had to crop in front of the bird some weeds that were distracting...But I will give it another look to see what I can do to make it better. Thank you again.

Diana.

[Fabs Forns]

Hi Diana,

I did a quick fix to illustrate the point given above, plus a little bit of sharpening. Hope you like it :)

There's ifo on how to do all this in the Digital Workflow Forum.

[Diana Zorrilla]

Yes, it really looks better, thank you... And the sharpening, I really have problems with that, my images usually need sharpening, I don´t know where is the problem, in the making of the image or in the optimization of it...

[Rosl Roessner]

Hi Diana,
if you are photographing in RAW, it is normal, that you have to sharpen the images.
I had to learn that too. The JPEGs come already sharpened out of the Cam, but not the RAWs.

[Diana Zorrilla]

Yes, I normally photograph in RAW. What method do you use to sharpen your images in RAW?

Diana.