Lapwing

[Rich Steel]

Hi

One of the local grazing fields, located next to the coast has stayed flooded most of the winter and has turned into a mini wetland reserve for waders during periods of high tides. Curlew, lapwing, redshank, dunlin, snipe, oystercatcher have all been present on the field with hundreds of birds present for some species on the bigger tides. Having a small car park next to it allows photography from the car :) and occasions provide very close views particularly for curlew and lapwing. I have been concentrating on photographing the lapwing. Here is one bird stretching those characteristic wings.

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k217/squidfish_2006/lap11.jpg

Taken with 1Dmk3, 500mm lens with 1.4TC at F7.1 ISO 400.

Cheers

Rich

[Jim Poor]

Awesome! What's not to like?! The foot up in the air is great and the plumage is super on the head.

Maybe just a touch of rotation CW.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Great pose, details and the raised wings and foot add to it. The BG looks a bit dark on my monitor. Maybe some curves or S/H.

[Alan Murphy]

What a stunning image. If you can hold the whites, i would open up the mid tones in curves to brighten this more.

[Fabs Forns]

Excellent timing!!!! To improve, I would multiply the whites, then lighten the whole image.

Congratulations!

[Rich Steel]

Many thanks for your replies and comments. I will have another go at the image to see if I can lighten it up without blowing the white.

Cheers

Rich