Greater Yellowlegs - feather maintenance.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Taken last month. This Greater Yellowlegs frequented a local pond for a couple of days. Myself and another local photographer got to spent a good hour or so with it before the light got too harsh. Plenty of interesting behaviours were witnessed/photographed as this guy was quite active that morning.

Canon 40D + 100-400L @400mm, aperture priority, evaluative metering, 1/2000s., f/7.1, ISO 400, -1 EC, natural light, handheld. About 75% full-frame.

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w98/dancad/tn_GreaterYellowlegs_8773-01.jpg

[Dave Blinder]

Great pose, lighting, and exposure Daniel.

[paul leverington]

Daniel--this is excellent. Shows the bird getting some oil I think. This is one I would definitely consider cropping in on, the water color is sweet but the bird here is much sweeter and I would say needs to dominate. Wonderful shot!

Paul

[Doug Brown]

Like the preening pose with preserved eye contact. The water is to die for; I wouldn't crop away any of it.

[Jim Fenton]

Really wonderful pose, beautiful water /lighting / exposure and sharpness.

I agree with Doug and wouldn't crop it either.

I might have blurred the main horizontal surface weed / algae line a bit but other than that, it's really nice.

[Geraldo Hofmann]

Wonderful capture!!! I agree with Paul ...I probably would go for a vertical but it is great shot with or without cropping.
Geraldo

[Scott Elowitz]

Sweet shot Daniel, The water colors are beautiful and great behavior shot.

[Arthur Morris]

No crop for me either. The position of the head and the splayed tail and uppertail covert (I think) feathers make this one both unique and a winner.

Please post a standard portrait of this bird here if you would be so kind.

[Harshad Barve]

fabulous shot , I wont change anything here
TFS

[edgar-junior]

Nice head position on this shot !!!

[Stu Bowie]

Pin sharp with excellent detail Dan, and I like how he has tucked his head into the tail. Amazing colourful BG too. I would maybe take a slither off both the top and bottom. Still, well captured.

[paul leverington]

I like the water too. Just for discussion purposes maybe this one might also be one to think about: A little added on the right..Sorry Dan--didn't have any canvas so I just borrowed from what was there and fudged it around.

Paul

[paul leverington]

Not to be argumentative, just throwing it out there, this I thought didn't look too bad--but I have to admit WITH the water has a much better drama to it. My only problem with the original was that the water and subject seem to be struggling for the limelight.

Paul

[Arthur Morris]

fabulous shot , I wont change anything here TFS

Harshad-bhai, When you think that an image is fabulous, please let us know why.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Hey Paul thanks for taking the time to work with my image. I like what you did with the first repost (including the smoothing out of the blueish "smudges" in the water). I really think this image works best in horizontal as I find it goes well with the diagonal elongated line of the neck/head/bill - this makes the extended canvas at right work well. (and for that reason your second crop doesn't "feel" as right to me).

P.S. I think you may be right about this guy getting/spreading some oil as it was rubbing (using its whole head)much more than it was preening...

[Arthur Morris]

The oil is secreted by the uropugial gland on the rump just above the base of the tail.

[paul leverington]

Yeah-- i woke up this morning at 3 am with a back ache and needed something to do cause no way I could sleep. I enjoyed your picture in all the different crops Dan. I like the longer pano one best too, and just to point out something of note, I darkened -just a little- those areas to the left of the bird. I felt that this would make him pop more and lower the comp "weight" value added because of the water on that side(Very bright, or very dark areas are heavy)--the bird basically has enough weight as is on that side. Then on the right I worked on putting in some brighter green to do the opposite of what I just did on the left--and that was to give it lots of comp weight through brightness and color saturation--now i figure the bird on the left balances pretty even with the water on the right. Tell you the truth you could even take it up a bit more there on the left from what I did.The water also I think now becomes the dominant subject of the shot--only slightly over the bird--but that's enough.

Good observation on that implied line the bill makes pointing at the lower right corner. I wasn't conscious of doing that at the time and hadn't even thought of it. But it does seem to be a factor in the overall power. Very interesting. Your exactly correct on that one.

Paul

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Love those yellow legs and water. I agree about this bird applying oil from its uropigial gland. Lovely light too.

[Stephen Stephen]

Dan I love the light on this bird and this pose is very unusual. I really like the play of the feathers. The fall colours reflected in the water are a big bonus.