Piping plover chick

[Grace Scalzo]

I photographed this day old chick at a local Long Island Beach. The crop is larger than I like but the parents were quite nervous, so I opted to leave after just a few images and give them some space until he and his 3 sibligs got a bit more established. Unfortunately, we have had non-stop rain and I have not been able to return.

1/2500, f 5/6, iso400
Mk2n, 500f4 + 1.4tc + lowered tripod

[Marina Scarr]

Hi Grace:

Lucky you got this little guy on Day 1 or you would have been doing a lot of running around. I love the fact that you got catchlight in his eye, which isn't easy on the chicks. I also like the way you included the habitat but you have a nice clean BG and the emphasis is all on the chick.

THanks so much for sharing.

[Alfred Forns]

Love it as presented Grace Tough little guys to photograph I'm amazed at their speed !!! Big Congrats !!

[Randy Stout]

Grace"

Nice capture, very cute little guy, well exposed, a very big world for him.

I might consider lightening the one dark spear of debris that points up at his bill. It stands out because of its contrast with the general brightness of the scene. Alternately you could clone it out.

Thanks for sharing.
Randy

[Steve Maxson]

A very nice image of this tiny chick, Grace. The exposure is right on and the background is clean. The chick looks sharp and fuzzy at the same time. If you have more room in the original, I would be tempted to put the chick more in the corner and add room on the top and left - to further emphasize the small chick-big world idea. Well done.

[Ramon M. Casares]

Great comments above, lovely little guy, great light, exposure, ambient and comp. Congratulations!

[ChasMcRae]

Lovely-maby a little more contrast on baby to separate it out-or at least try-may not work.
Great ground level view-wish I could stillget there(I can but struggle to get up)
Chas.

[Dave Leroy]

Lovely photo Grace. It really shows how these little birds blend into their bg. Really like the dof. Dave

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Hi Grace. Critique is a lot like back seat driving;the back seat driver is always making suggestions, yet if in the drivers seat they would do the same thing!
The blurred foreground is the problem, and the solution is to have used a greater depth of field, which means you would have had to use a higher ISO, but since it appears you had good soft light, higher ISO shouldn't intoduce noise. The higher F number would have made focusing errors on the subject less likely(not that you did that, your focusing was excellent ).
Of course if I were taking the image I would only hope to get the bird in focus. But I'm the back seat driver here!
regards~Bill

[Kiran Poonacha]

What a beautiful image this is... great tone, angle, feel and blending subject... nicely framed too.. congrats

[Stu Bowie]

Grace, cute little guy, and overall, well exposed. Well done on getting that tiny catchlight, and I like the soft pastel colours in this. I find the cluttered FG a bit distracting.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the composition and these little fluffballs are fun to be around. I agree with Randy on the dark vertical thing that is a bit distracting.

I think the best way to go is to sit and wait for the birds to come. That way the parents don't get stressed and don't do the 'broken wing display'.

[Fabs Forns]

He looks so helpless and tender, what a beauty, glad that you shared it :)

[Grace Scalzo]

Thanks everybody....I hadn't even noticed that sticking up debris, but will eliminate it! Funny how that works.
Axel, I was sitting still and the chicks ran right toward me. That caused the parent to come over too and get into his distracting techniques, so I left. The thing with this location is that your workable room is limited because you've got tall grass behind you and the LI Sound in front, and a very narrow beach at high tide.

[LouBuonomo]

You know I love'm at this age... now if the rain would stop !!!!