Don't Throw Out the Baby With the Bath Water

[Arthur Morris]

This bathing juvie American Oystercatcher was photographed at Nikckerson Beach, Long Island, NY at 7:56am on 9/2/11 with the Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens, the 1.4X III TC, and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +1 stop: 1/1000 sec. at f/10 set manually. Gitzo 3530 LS CF tripod with the Mongoose M3.6. Small crop from left and bottom, larger crop from top. Specular highlight clean-up on bill and toned down in the splash.

Rear focus, central sensor (by necessity)/AI Servo AF and recompose. Lens/TC/Camera Body Micro-adjustment: 0.

For more on rear focus and a neat trick for using it on bathing birds check out Rear Focus Tutorial. (http://www.birdsasart-blog.com/2011/09/13/rear-focus-tutorial/)

Don't be shy; all comments welcome.

[Arthur Morris]

The bill looked too red to me (rather than orange) so I converted this to sRGB and embedded the color profile. We'll see how it looks. I am just looking to learn. :S3:

[Arthur Morris]

Go figure. The bill color still looks off :). But at least in the sRGB version (Pane 2) there is lots of clipping!

[Ben_Sadd]

Like the splash, the capture of this behaviour, and the nice lighting. Still trying to get my head around the contortion, but that is the bird not the photographer :S3:

[Mital Patel]

what a freeze. it is the flow of image or i feel the image is leaning left a little. havent seen the bird so cant comment on that beak part but i loved it.

[Humberto Ramos]

The low shots give us great moments... Where you in the water?
I also use the rear focus.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Humberto. I was kneeling. The bird was in a narrow tidal creek right on the beach. The creek was not there before Hurricane Irene....

[Humberto Ramos]

I wish in Portugal to take photos in me knees, but normally birds are too afraid of man (hunters guilty) to take low angle shots I have to go to the water with camouflage and walk a lot to get near birds...

[Arthur Morris]

I understand that Europe can be tough. Nickerson Beach is a special place....

[Alan Murphy]

Killer bathing pose. The eye looks a bit drab (probably due to water covering it)

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Alan. Yes, there is about 1/2 inch of water over the eye. I did think about replacing it...

[Arthur Morris]

what a freeze. it is the flow of image or i feel the image is leaning left a little. havent seen the bird so cant comment on that beak part but i loved it.

Thanks Mital. Not sure how I missed the need for CW rotation. I wound up starting from scratch. Here is a level repost that may be improved in other ways.

[Grace Scalzo]

I love the action. Said to Ted (husband) just last night while photographing gulls that I love getting the head underwater with the eye showing. Not easy to do, but look at this one. :S3: I've looked at this one a couple times today because I'm not 100% sold on the crop yet not sure what to suggest. The bird is nearly centered from top to bottom and also from side to side which I think is what bothers my sense of composition. I wonder if you came in a bit tighter if it would help. On the other hand, composition is a personal thing.

[Herb Houghton]

Nice bath capture Artie. It's always good to see some behavior shots. I like the curtain of water extending past the beak, and the BGD fading to smooth blur.

[Gary Esman]

Another interesting shot. Like the water splash but the subject is to far in the water in my opinion.

Gary.

[Marina Scarr]

Absolutely killer action/behavior captured here. Agree with Grace on the comp as I just don't see this image lending itself to a pano crop. I think something tighter would give more attention to this amazing behavior.

[Karl Egressy]

Great bathing image, Artie. The whole colour sceme and brightness look very pleasing.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Hmm, this inspires me to finish a few images of the phalarope dunking its head is it fed...a few of them with water covering the eye like yours here. I love the film of water beneath the bill, and I think the pano crop works. On my work monitor the images in pane 1 and 2 look the same...I'll compare once home later today.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Dan, I wish that the eye were miraculously in the clear but for some reason I still like it and did not wish to grab another juvie's eye (though that would have been easy).

As for the color issues, I am baffled :).

[Neil Nourse]

Great timing Artie.
With the water coming over the head like this my feeling is they eye would have to stay covered like it is or it just wouldn't look natural.

[Arthur Morris]

Agree 100%

[Ron Sprunger]

Artie, have you tried some selective hue adjustment to reds and/or oranges, either in ACR or masked in PS5? I especially like the subtlety in ACR, but you can't mask there, and it might affect the eye in ways you don't intend.

[Arthur Morris]

Artie, have you tried some selective hue adjustment to reds and/or oranges, either in ACR or masked in PS5? I especially like the subtlety in ACR, but you can't mask there, and it might affect the eye in ways you don't intend.

Thanks Ron but no. Why no't? The colors look fine in both Photoshop and in Breeezebrowser. The more I try to figure out this color management stuff the more confused I become. :e3