Can't Get The Sand Out of My Eye

[Jory Griesman]

Semipalmated plover, on the beach at Ft. DeSoto. Using modified "groundpod", at eye level, on my belly. Could have used a rotating/swivel LCD monitor, but, alas, no matter how hard I pulled, it wouldn't move on my D700.

600 mm f/4 lens at f/6.7, with 1.7x teleconverter, 1/800 sec, ISO 1000, manual exposure.

Some of the whites may be burned out. Unfortunately, hard to tell while shooting, as I couldn't see blinkies on my smudged monitor, and was afraid to move and scare away the birds. A bit of cloning and blurring of foreground was done to lessen distractions.

[Marina Scarr]

Know where you're coming from. Been down on my belly at Ft DeSoto many times. The whites don't look blown to me. The bird's wing feathers look a bit more focused than the head but it may be the odd angle of the head. Love the humor here!

[Lana Hays]

Interesting pose.....almost looks like he's about to poke his own eye out. There is an overall color cast.....cyan I think at least on the BG which makes it look a bit odd.

[Jory Griesman]

You're right, Lana - sort of. I believe a cast would involve the entire image, not just the background. What you're seeing is a failed attempt to adjust the background colour, which I wasn't happy with, and I think I made it worse. Here's an attempt to bring it closer to the original - it may be marginally better. Thanks.