Piping Plover

[Ilija Dukovski]

Taken last Sunday at Plum Island. The light was very low and I was
testing my new TC20E III so I had to underexpose to get decent sharpness.
Adjuster Temp. and Brightness in ACR.
I believe this is the same individual as in Mike's post below.
At some point this adult performing territorial display and was vocalizing
(will post that image later) so I believe this is a male.
Removed only a small dark patch on the lower right corner.

CC appreciated.

Nikon D700 300mm+TC20 f/8 1/160 Manual @ 0 ISO800

[Mike Milicia]

Nicely done, Ilija!
Great clean setting and BG, soft light, pose, and comp!

Only think I might consider tweaking is toning down the very brightest whites just a tiny bit on the neck and top of the breast but that's really just a matter of taste.

[Arthur Morris]

Sharp and sweet with a nice COMP. It might could use a bit of CW rotation. (Just look at the bottom of the foot...)

[denise ippolito]

Nice sharp details Ilija. I like the tone on tone colors and the composition and exposure look great. I can never get these images straight so I won't comment on the rotation.:)

[Troy Lim]

Stunning shot. TFS. :)

[Fabs Forns]

Sweet, Ilija, very neat presentation. Agree on the rotation, judging by the focus line on the sand. Great diffused light and detail. TFS.

[Alfred Forns]

Simple and beautiful Ilija and great looking bird !!!

[Ofer Levy]

Nice low angle, sharp and lovely pose. Maybe a tad darker.

[Tony Whitehead]

Very sweet and I like the colour highlights of the legs and bill and eye ring. Removing the OOF dark lines in front of the bird is an option to consider.

[Steve Kaluski]

Clean and simple, excellent. Would agree with Tony about some gardening of the OOF objects.

TFS
Steve

[Bruno Calha]

Good dof, colors and focus, but i think the subject is very centered.

[Ilija Dukovski]

Thank you everyone for the comments. I appreciate them as always.
Here's a bit of CW rotated version, hope this is better.

I didn't want to remove the bit in front of the bird since I think it balances
the comp and it does not take attention too much. It is always a fine balance
of how much a cleanup is needed in an image.

Considering the brightness, I wanted to keep the eye as bright as possible
but avoid the unnatural look of bright eye on a dark bird. I agree though
that less bright bird would bring more details in the whites (that are there since
the image was originally under-exposed).

Thanks again.

[Hendri Venter]

Levels looks fine on repost. Lovely low angle image Ilija.