Black-winged Stilt

[Chris Martinez]

Himantopus himantopus

1D MKIV, 600mm IS, 1.4x II, tripod.

ISO 400, f/9, 1/1000, -1 EC. Aperture Priority, Evaluative Metering.

Trimmed a touch off the bottom and left. Added a little to the top.

[Dumay de Boulle]

Very nice pose and and lovely shooting angle. Nice and sharp with good detail...I feel it could be moved back slightly to the left in the frame to strengthen comp and there is a hot patch lacking detail just below the wing on the body and just below the eye...Otherwise a very nice image!

[Daniel Cadieux]

Nice wingfalp pose (great to have the wings high like this), and I like the very subtle head turn our way. Ditto Dumay in regards to comp, and I would also eliminate the faint OOF pale streak below the bill. One thing I like to do sometimes is use the clone stamp, soft brush and about 40% opacity, on the highlights of wet legs like you have here. It can tone those down enough to eliminate their harshness and yet still look good and wet.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Chris, great job going low to keep the bank below the head. Pose is excellent.

I dont think you need to trim from bottom. You want some room there for virtual feet. some selective sharpening of the wings might help.

[Chris Martinez]

Thanks for the feedback guys :S3:

Daniel, special thanks for your legs trick.

I think I will start from the RAW using the suggestions offered and my own ideas and rework this one.

[Robert Holguin]

Excellent shot. Wonderful light, love the wing position, great shooting angle, and great background.
Well done.