Red-necked Phalarope and a Bead in a Water Saucer.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I don't want to over-saturate the forum with my phalarope images, but this little fella was too charming not to share another one (or two!!) The "saucer" is the remnant of the tell tale "vortex" these guys create when quickly spinning around the water to stir up small prey items. It had just plucked one of those items from the water, hence the "bead".

Canon 7D + 100-400L @360mm, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/1250s., f/8, ISO 800 (settings histogram checked), natural light, handheld.

[Mark Itol]

Such a sweet image, Daniel. Great detail and love the blue water.

[Randy Stout]

Daniel:

Excellent tech. details, great shooting angle, like the bowl and bead!

Because the reflection is weak (caused by the great shooting angle) I could see a version cropped up to just above the dark spot in the reflection. If you have a sliver more on the left to show the complete circle of ripples, I might consider including that and just a sliver more to balance it out again on the right.

It is lovely as presented.

Cheers

Randy

[Ofer Levy]

Beautiful image. Excellent tech. sweet soft light and super low shooting angle. Love the composition too. Hard to believe you get such lovely images with such a short lens as there is no way I can get so close to wild waders in OZ.

[Arthur Morris]

Killer sweet blues and low angle. Keep em coming. Here I would strongly advise cropping anything from below. Though it is something that I do often (and possibly taught Randy....) it would destroy the COMP Balance here IMO. Hey, I am agreeing with Ofer; go figure!

[Marina Scarr]

Love this one as presented, Daniel. You really acquired great details here, and I love the mood created.

[Ilija Dukovski]

Great bird and excellent blue color. Love the drop too.

[Mital Patel]

Daniel i would rather say at-least i am enjoying every bit of phalarope series you're posting. so please keep em coming. Gurus have already made their points so i am enjoying the image keeping myself side :)

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Just gorgeous Daniel. The blues are so wonderful and so is the light. I love these low angle shots and the magic created when getting down and dirty!

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Daniel, what a stunning shot. you are master of getting close to small birds. like everything here...that drop adds a great touch. low angle, IQ, the calm water, bird parallel, light....incredible in every way.

some jaggies are seen in the open bill.

[Luis Villablanca]

Really good composition. I love the soft tones and the reflection.
Although the image is excellent as presented I am wondering if it would look even better in a 16:9 format (adding to the left and right of the frame).
This way you would be able to include the whole "saucer" in the frame.

[Troy Lim]

Superb Image Daniel.

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Wow! This is stunning, Dan.
The low angle, clean, still water, the saucer, bead, the the perfectly exposed bird...
Even though the reflection isn't strong, I like it a lot. I also like the comp.
If you were to twist my arm, I'd say fix the jaggies on the beak and the minor sharpening halo around the head and back.
Superbly done, and an awesome series - please keep them coming!

[Stu Bowie]

Another well thought out, well captured image Dan. How calm is that water, and just love the blue of the saucer. I dont mind the reflection as is, but can also see half the bottom disappear and still work well. Of course, the droplet adds so much more. Perfect timing I'll say.:w3

[Robert Holguin]

Wow!!! What a beautiful image. Love the water color and the lovely light, super shooting angle as well. Well done.

PS - I agree keep them coming.

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi Daniel, very beautiful capture here. Love the low angle and the slightly open bill. Very nice work!

[Dumay de Boulle]

Very nice light and shooting angle...Really like the textures of the water

[Daniel Cadieux]

Beautiful image. Excellent tech. sweet soft light and super low shooting angle. Love the composition too. Hard to believe you get such lovely images with such a short lens as there is no way I can get so close to wild waders in OZ.

Thanks everyone, very much appreciated!!

Ofer, I hear you! It's sometimes frustrating without a "super telephoto" but I search the tame ones and stick with them!:S3: Fall shorebird migration is best for that as many of the juveniles are quite tame by nature. Thanks for the kudos.

[Manos Papadomanolakis]

The blues are so wonderful and so is the light!!!