I sleep on the beach (Bar-tailed Godwit)

[Paul Randall]

Bar-tailed Godwit (Limosa lapponica)
Barwon Heads, VIC, Australia 2/3/2011

Probably a good idea to keep one eye open if you want to sleep on the beach. Both eyes maybe, one on the tide and one on the weird looking photographer lying in the sand.

All comments welcome Paul

Canon 5D 600mm f4 L (non IS) +1.4 TC iso 400 1/500th f9.0 CW metering +1/3 handheld rested on sand
Photoshop- slight sharpen and saturation

[arash_hazeghi]

very nice pose, low angle and sharp details. it looks a tad too bright on my screen.

[Randy Stout]

Paul:

Good comments from Arash, agree with nice shooting angle, pose and sharpness. I can certainly see it 1/4 to 1/3 darker.

I might move the bird a sliver to the right, just personal preference. I almost might try toning down the specular highlights in the foam just a bit.

Cheers

Randy

[Arthur Morris]

Love the look and the light and your perfect angle to the subject. And the clear view of the eye. The bird should be well to our right in the frame.... The mid-tones look pretty good from here and the specular highlights do not look bad at all....

[Paul Randall]

Thanks for the suggestions all :S3:
Here is a redo with the bird placed to the right a touch more and also a tad darker:bg3:

[DanWalters]

Like the low angle and pose. Nice soft light as well.

[Ofer Levy]

Hi Paul, here is another version with some levels and colour adjustments and saved as sRGB. Didn't move the bird as it looks fine in the OP - can work either way IMO.

[Stu Bowie]

Paul, love the low perspective, and you have brought out the feather detail nicely. Comp wise, your repost looks good with regards to placement, and I like Ofer's colour enhancement.

[Vivaldo Damilano]

I like your repost, comp works better. The soft light and low angle makes the shot, also like the reflection TFS
:cheers::cheers:

[Paul Randall]

Thanks for looking and commenting:S3:
Contrast boost in your repost looks good Ofer but colours feel a little too bold for my tastes. Was fairly overcast at the time of shooting and I even felt like my very slight saturation boost was a bit too much from time to time.

[Tom Rambaut]

Like as first posted. Looks ok here brightness wise. Would cut a bit off the right.

[Ofer Levy]

Thanks for looking and commenting:S3:
Contrast boost in your repost looks good Ofer but colours feel a little too bold for my tastes. Was fairly overcast at the time of shooting and I even felt like my very slight saturation boost was a bit too much from time to time.

Now that I look at it again I agree my repost is way oversaturated. If you have to get a shot in such poor light I think you will need a bit of flash to get some colours on the bird.

[Paul Randall]

Totally agree Ofer. I tend to be a bit lazy when it comes to taking the flash with me on my walks. I really need to brush up on my fill flash technique as well so I really should be taking it with me more often.:e3

[Nick Palmieri]

Very sharp and nice clean image. Nice pose and nice low angle.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Paul, beautiful shot....terrific ulta-low angle and perfect DOF. I like the subject placement in the repost. loved the reflection as well.

[Arthur Morris]

Next time you get a chance like this tuck the bird into one corner or the other.... For this one it would have been the right corner for me.