American Osytercatcher

[Jay Bernstein]

Canon 7D
Canon 100-400mm f4.5/5.6L IS USM Lens @400mm
ISO 100
f 5.6
1/500 sec

I was experimenting with different DOF and thought it was better to blur the background water and keep the head crisp.
Is that correct?
Comments and critique always welcomed!
My Best,
Jay

[Sid Garige]

Jay,

Excellent composition. Great pose and waves in the background adds a lot to this image.

Color space of your images looks kind off and when I opened the image I noticed there was not embedded color profile (missing sRGB profile info). I reopened in ps and added colorprofile and boosted mid tones. Take a look and let me know what you think.

-Sid

[dankearl]

Sid's repost makes this work a lot better. I like the concept with the wave, but just a bit more DOF with more definition
in the BG would
have really been nice for me.

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Jay, Sharp. But all downhill after that. When you work 90 degrees off the bright sun angle with a black and white subject you are dead in the water.... In the ORIG the BLACKs are way under. In the repost the WHITEs are toasted. Even perfect processing however could not save this one which was doomed from the start. The other major distracting element is the merge of the bottom of the wave with the back of the bird.

Where was the image made?

Welcome and thanks a stack for your membership support.

[Jay Bernstein]

Hi Artie,
DI was at Ft DeSoto 's North Beach and it was sunrise not high sun. If I would have stood up and shot down at the subject, do you think I would have gained separation of the wave from the back of the subject as you describe?
Thanks Jay

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Artie, DI was at Ft DeSoto 's North Beach and it was sunrise not high sun. If I would have stood up and shot down at the subject, do you think I would have gained separation of the wave from the back of the subject as you describe? Thanks Jay

Thanks. A rough day at Fort DeSoto. Yes, if the waves were breaking consistently getting higher would likely have helped depending on the particular wave. The huge that that you did wrong however was failing to move well to your left to get the sun behind you. You needed to be right at the water's edge. Do you see the shadow behind and to the right of the bird? In general when it is clear you need to have your shadow pointed roughly at the bird. See "Understanding Light-Angle, Subject-to-Film Plane Orientation, and Head-Angle." That section starts on page 176 of ABP II (https://store.birdsasart.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=19).

[Jay Bernstein]

Thanks Artie and Sid for your great tips and advice. I understand now.
Jay

[Arthur Morris]

YAW; that is what we are here for :).