Theme - Juvenile Buff-breasted Sandpiper in the kelp

[Richard Stern]

I wasn't sure about posting this because of the background and the angle, but because of the rarity (at least for me) of the bird and the rather cute expression, I thought I'd give it a go. I would have liked a lower angle, but because of the steeply sloping terrain with the ocean below, I had to stay above the bird and this was impossible. The kelp had been washed up by a recent storm. and was covering the whole section of the beach, so rather than try to remove bits in pp, I added some Gaussian blur to the whole background. Last weekend on Brier Island, NS.

D7000, 300 f/4 AF-S + 1.7TC, resting on my knee squatting in the wet kelp. Auto-ISO at 800, 1/2000, f/6.7.

Thanks for comments,

Richard

[Richard Unsworth]

:S3:

I like the environment, the suprised look and lookback work for me
shots of rare birds/difficult condions deserve high merit as does this, good call on f stop
thanks

[Arthur Morris]

As the BKGR is fairly consistent I do not hate it. Denise Ippolito and I had one in the beach wrack at Nickerson last week; very frustrating.... Sharpest focus is on the feathers of the bird's back. Head turn is a bit too much toward you. Square to the back of the camera is perfect for the over the shoulder poses.

[gail bisson]

Hi Richard,
good shot of this guy. I like the look back and the BG is fine. I would do a round of selective sharpening on the head as the critical focus seems to be on the back.
gail

[Nancy Bell]

In addition to the above comments, I might try selecting the bkgd and using Shadow/Highlights, decrease the highlights. This could lessen the brightness at the top of the frame and keep your eye on the bird. Great to get a photo of a rare bird!