Indiana American Avocet

[Ryan Sanderson]

An American Avocet was seen at Goose Pond Fish and Wildlife Area (GPFWA) in Greene County, IN, for much of the month of September. While not in overly rare bird in the state, you certainly can't go out and find one ever day. I'd guess they show up 5-10 times a year, give or take. GPFWA is becoming quite the hotspot in Indiana, and if you're ever in the region, I'd suggest a visit. GPFWA has had a number of traditionally southern wetland birds in the last couple of years, including all three ibis species, black-bellied and fulvous whistling ducks, and the state's first record of a roseate spoonbill. Black-necked stilts are now there every summer, and I believe that they bred there.

I upped the saturation in the background of this shot and added a catchlight in the eye. I like the effects, but understand they may not be to everyone's taste. Anyway, I figured this was my best attempt at an "Eye Level" shot.

Ryan

Canon 50D, 500 f4 IS L, 1/250, ISO 400, f/4.0
Taken on September 11th, 2010

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4132/4989896569_afb2cbfb3b_b.jpg

[RakeshDhareshwar]

The BG is so very interesting . Makes the image interesting . The catchlight looks a bit arificial as it is too centered in the eye . Otherwise a very pleasing image to look at .

[Daniel Cadieux]

Sounds like a real good hotspot you have there! Nice comp and look-back pose. Low angle is super. That is some fiery BG. I appreciate that you saturated lots to enhance those wicked colours but I find that pulling back a few points would make this more pleassing as I find those bright colours compete for the avocet's attention. I'm OK with the catchlight - looks like it would had it come off a flash. I'd look into toning down the bright band. Very well done overall!:S3:

[Randy Stout]

Ryan:

Good critiques above. It is a striking image, but the color dominates the bird for me.
Perfect head angle for look back pose.

Thanks for the info on the site.

Cheers

Randy

[arash_hazeghi]

excellent! love that BG, I would not change it at all.

[Ryan Sanderson]

Regarding the location of the catchlight I added, I guess there's an explanation to why it's where it is. When this was taken, the bird was in the shade, while the cattails in the background were still in the last rays of light for the evening. I can't remember exactly what was responsible for this, but I was able to zoom in on the eye and get a hint of where the sun was. There was a very slight catchlight there, but not enough to notice unless you were zoomed in at 100%. I added the catch light in this area, figuring it would best enhance what was there already.

I was there with another photographer, and we had to go down a slight embankment to get to the area where we took this photo, but we did it too late. I didn't go down there because I didn't want to disturb his shooting. After it looked like we were getting all we could hope for from 7 feet above the bird, I suggested we move down to the mudflats, and we did. I wish we'd done it sooner so that the bird could have still been in the sun!

Thanks for the replies!