Swaggering Stilt

[Glenn Ehmke]

Canon EOS 30D, EF400mm f/4 DO IS USM - 1/1600Sec. F5.6 EC-2/3.

Photographed this Black-winged Stilt late afternoon at Werribee Sewerage Treatment Plant, Victoria, Australia.
I like the pose, but not sure if I'm wild about the light.....

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the pose and angle in this one. The sidelight makes this pretty difficult. You could have moved to the right to have the sun behind you. The crop is a bit tight, particularly at the bottom you should leave more room for the 'virtual' legs. I also find the two bright spots in the upper left and right a bit distracting. Keep them coming.

[Mark Adkins]

Agree with previous for the most part. Harsh light on the right side. I like tight crops more than most but that is personal preference. Overall I lik it.

Mark

[Maxis Gamez]

I like the pose and low angle. I think the image is too tight and there are two spots that I really don't have a clue what they are but they are very distracting.

[Dean Ingwersen]

Great low angle gives a good perspective on this one, but I'm just not sure about the light. A view from further right would have been great, but then you would have lost the front-on view of the bird. I think the crop is okay, but see what Axel means. Good work though, I like this one as well.

[Chris Tzaros]

That's the shot Glenn - it's difficult to 'freeze' such an actively foraging stilt but I think you've done well in this instance running at such a high shutter speed. I actually prefer a more generous margin of habitat around the bird but it seems you were quite close to this subject. I know that site well and in evening light it's difficult to expose 'white' birds. Simply moving with the sun at your back is difficult as it is a sewage treatment facility and you need to watch where you're standing or sitting (if you catch my drift!). The side lighting is nice and natural - I'd get wild about it if I were you! Beautiful image - I look forward to seeing more.

[Chris Tzaros]

That's the shot Glenn - it's difficult to 'freeze' such an actively foraging stilt but I think you've done well in this instance running at such a high shutter speed. I actually prefer a more generous margin of habitat around the bird but it seems you were quite close to this subject. I know that site well and in evening light it's difficult to expose 'white' birds. Simply moving with the sun at your back is difficult as it is a sewage treatment facility and you need to watch where you're standing or sitting (if you catch my drift!). The side lighting is nice and natural - I'd get wild about it if I were you! Beautiful image - I look forward to seeing more.

[Glenn Ehmke]

Thanks for the comments.

Those spots are definitely distracting now that I look at them (they were actualy other birds)

I agree about being too tight at the bottom, unfortunately I had the centre AF point picked so lost canvas at the bottom - the bird was very close - should have had the upper AF point selected.

Managed to copy in some more canvas at the bottom from another pic, also left a bit more around the top now.

The harsh light was my biggest question over this one. I certainly would have moved around if I could have, but as Chris says you have to be careful where you lay down at a sewerage plant. So this was more of a rescue job I guess.

Applied some curves to even out the light a bit and I'm a bit happer with it now, thanks everyone.

[Maxis Gamez]

Hi Glenn,

Excellent. I think you have a winner now!