proud Piping Plover parent

[John Chardine]

Try to say that 10 times!

This fantastic species, the Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus) is endemic to North America/Caribbean and on our Canadian endangered species list. Yesterday, I had the chance to photograph the species by accompanying a biologist who specialises in this shorebird. This male or female had four small chicks, less than a week old. I was impressed by how far the parents would let the chicks stray up and down the beach as they all fed.

I didn't need to do much to the image other than straighten, crop and sharpen, and I dodged the eye to lighten. The pose is a little static but it's one of the best I had for the day because of bad problems with heat waves in the air. BG is waves coming onto beach.

Canon EOS 50D, 500/4
capture date: Thursday, 23 July 2009, 11:53 AM
exposure program: Aperture Priority
ISO speed: 400
shutter speed: 1/1000
aperture: f8.0
exposure bias: +0.7
metering: Pattern
flash: ON - flash extender no comp.

[Matthew Studebaker]

Composition: Good. I could see a pinch more space at the bottom, but it's not necessary
Detail: very nice
Light: quite harsh but good job evening it out with flash
Exposure: spot on
Post processing: good
Pose: nice simple profile
Background: beautiful gradients
Shooting angle: nice and low to ground
Depth of field (DOF): good
plumage:good

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Great angle, head angle and I also like the surf in the BG. The color temperature looks a bit warm considering the shadow and light angle.

[Joe Senzatimore]

One sweet bird captured very well in this image. The very low angle is outstanding. I know you had to "tame" the light with fill , but I think you could have turned down the flash about 1/3 to 2/3. Still and outstanding image.

[Amy Marques]

I like the bits of sand on the beak and the probed sand in front of the little fellow.

[Randy Stout]

John:

Very nice, like the story too.

I might consider darkening the midtones just a bit. I find the image just a tad too bright, and liked the effect of lowering the midtones a smidge.

I am on my work computer, which tends to be just a bit bright c/w my home monitor, but it might be worth a try.

Cheers

Randy

[Markus Jais]

Great capture. Wonderful sharpness and detail. Very good head angle and awesome BG.
I, too, would try to darken the midtones a tiny little bit.
Congratulations on a really beautiful image.

Markus

[John Chardine]

Thanks for all the great comments and good call on the mid-tones. Here I burned-in (Midtones, 50% exposure, soft brush) the lighter feathers on the bird and then finished off with a Curves, inverse S to tone down a bit more. I'm glad I exposed the image as far to the right as I could, which has allowed an easy development from the RAW.

[Ramon M. Casares]

For the hour this image was taken, almost midday, the light and use of flash is simply perfect IMO, lovely detail, exppsure, BG, pose, sharpness and colors! Big congratulations!

[Dan Walker]

Great detail and BG, love the sand on the bill. On my uncalibrated laptop, the whites seem better in the original.

[Kiran Poonacha]

Beautiful image... I like the repost, congrats....

[Stu Bowie]

A better angle you couldnt ask for. Well exposed, sharp, good job on the eye, and stands out well against the BG. Your repost is even better.

[Gyorgy Szimuly]

Beautiful image. Repost works better for me. Sharpness and level is sweet.

Szimi

[Arthur Morris]

The flash at zero saved the day and the repost is an improvement. I think that I might prefer something in between. I agree with all the noted positives; it is one sweet image. Hey, there's a new acronymn: IAWATNPs. That would save a lot of typiing!

Creating great images in full sun near midday has been a common theme here for the last week.