Jump!

[Marina Scarr]

While photographing this Long-billed Curlew @ 560mm, I decided it would be too tight for any cropping, so removed the 1.4TC. The decision turned out to be a sound one b/c the Curlew soon began flapping its wings and jumped right out of the water.

The cinnamon underwings of this bird are amazing, and what it can achieve with its 4-7 inch bill even more so!

Canon 50D, Canon 400 DO
F5.6, 1/1000sec, ISO 400, manual mode
Gitzo tripod

C & C always welcomed and appreciated,

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Cool pose, good details and eye contact. I don't know what the light looked like but the image appears to have a color cast.

[Grace Scalzo]

Excellent anticipation got you this cool jump. (I'm trying to work more on that myself!) I'd sharpen the eye area just a bit more. I see a bit of purple in the image, and also note that you created this with a 50D, also something that I struggle with.

[Stu Bowie]

Marina, very well timed to capture the take off. I like the light, sharp with good detail, and colours in this. The droplets around the feet adds to the image too.

[Steve Maxson]

Perfectly timed with good positions of wings and head. The water droplets are a plus. I agree with Axel that the image appears to have a color cast. Well done.

[Lana Hays]

Marina
What a cool image.....and head turn. Good thinking to remove the TC.....and in time to capture this one. There is a color cast.....possibly from too much saturation? Wonderful action image.

[Steve Leach]

Marina
Patience and forethought paid off very well for you.
Sometimes at great locations you can be too close to these subjects, Good you had the option and thought enough to use it to hang with that 400 DO of yours and to pocket the TC.
I like the amount of sand you have here, just enough. The water drops are a great bonus to a great pose.
That light blue water works well against the coloration of this guy too.
JUMP is a great title.
(I am not on a calibrated monitor at the moment, so I cant tell if its got an unnatural tint to it.)

[Marina Scarr]

Marina
There is a color cast.....possibly from too much saturation?

I wish it were too much SAT, but I saturated the bird only in this case. I have been told that the color cast is possibly an issue with the 50D. I will attempt to adjust and repost.

Thank you all for taking the time to critique my image.

[Lana Hays]

Marina
I really don't do anything sophisticated with PS and especially struggle with color casts. I can often recognize that something is not right.....but can't figure what color to fix it with. On rare occasions I use "auto color" to see what PS would do. 99% of the time, it's way off....but sometimes it leads me to the right direction. I downloaded your image and did just that. I think it may look more natural. Obviously I don't recommend using auto color but on those rare moments....it works. Let me know what you think.....and I could be way off.

Marina....for some reason, the image won't upload. It shows....but just won't upload....hmm. OK...got it.

[Ramon M. Casares]

IMO repost is way better! Big congratulatons for such an amazing image, pose, light, detail, colors, BG, and comp are all A+.
Congrats!

[Nate Chappell]

Wonderful action here Marina

[Marina Scarr]

Thank you Lana and Peter for your assistance. I think Lana's more accurately reflects the true colors of the water and the underwings which were an amazing blast of color. I didn't realize until I read up on it that these birds are known for their beaks and the underwings.

Thank you for the info on exposing to the right for the 50D. In this case, the exposure did not appear to need any adjustment. Frankly, I have found that the noise associated with my 50D is bad even when properly exposed, and I am truly disappointed.

Thank you all for your words and assistance.

[Mike Milicia]

Great light, nice head angle and composition, and excellent job catching the action with sharp detail!
The color in Lana's repost looks great to me.
The underwings of these birds are really quite striking.

Most times I've tried to catch something like this, I have either clipped the wings or the bird turned away as it jumped. It all came together for you nicely here.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Great action capture Marina. I love the drops of water. While I don't know how the light and bird looked, I find Peter's rendition more pleasing for my taste. Congratulations!

Sounds like the 50D is not something I will be buying in a hurry. :(