Piping plover chick

[rajandesai]

Early June Nor'easter here in New England coincided with the high tide and wiped out most plover and tern nests. Looks like only one plover family with 3 chicks survived that storm. Luckily the birds are resilient and are actively building nests.
This little plover was seen exploring the beach along with other 2 chicks on early cloudy morning. This shot was taken when the chicks were scurrying around near the ocean. I have a few closeups of these cute chicks but this is one of my favorite shots of chicks from the weekend.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8150/7400315690_7263c74597_c.jpg

Canon 1D4 | 500mm + 1.4x | 700mm | ISO 640 | f/8 | 1/800 sec
Processed using LR4 | CS 6 | Cropped 10% | Basic post processing

I normally spend my weekends at Sandy Beach in MA where terns and plovers nest. It is tough to get good clean background at that location. I decided to join Mike Milicia on his plover and tern workshop. He has found a nice location that is clean and is ideal for working with shore birds. Mike is really a great photographer, great teacher who is willing to share his secrets and a really nice person to shoot with. Apart from shooting at the beach, I really enjoyed his afternoon presentations. If you are confused about the proper use of flash, Mike can sort it out for you. His presentation on Flash was a good eye opener for me.

This is my first post on BPN. I am looking forward to your comments and suggestion. I am here to learn from you so please be frank.

Cheers,
Rajan

[Mike Milicia]

Rajan, welcome to BPN!
it was very nice to finally meet you ... hope to see you again soon!

Nice clean beach :w3, and lovely BG! The small in the frame works well here for me as it emphasizes how small these guys are.
You might experiment with moving the bird a bit closer to the classic rule of thirds position.
Looks a bit "crunchy" to me from oversharpening.

[Karl Egressy]

The picture is very powerful in terms of supporting your story.
Great work, Rajan.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I love the placement of the subject in the frame here, very nice comp. Good clean beach providing a beautiful BG and FG. I agree with Mike about "crunchy" look. There is also a small black dot directly underneath the bird's belly that should disappear (choice of clone, patch, or spot removal tool should do the trick).

Welcome to BPN!!

[jack williamson]

I like the lonely looking little chick on the big beach. Great BG, the chick is a little too sharp.

Jack

[Melissa Groo]

Welcome Rajan!!! So good to see you here. Become a member so we can see a thumbnail show up on the main forum page! Those always get more hits. And believe me, best 20 bucks you'll ever spend.
This is a wonderful portrait of the plover chicks we got to see (yes I took Milicia's workshop too--it was a fantastic learning and photographic experience), really does give a sense of their tininess in that landscape. The beach is of course beautiful and clean. Maybe try backing off sharpening just a tad, as others have said. But overall a great job. Looking forward to seeing more of your nice work!

[laurie golden]

You have great composition for this little bird, he looks alone in a very big world.

[allanrube]

Great composition. I like the tiny bird in the large world. Oversharpening is never good, but remember chicks should be soft. :w3

[Lyle Gruby]

Hi Rajan, I also just joined and posted my second shot (although I messed my first one up). I too like the small in frame. I love the DOF, otherwise agree with others.

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Excellent image to start off, Rajan.
Love the small bird in a big world feel. Excellent low angle and a clean image with a nice comp.
Would run NR on bg and ease up on the sharpening on the bird.
Welcome to BPN; looking forward to more. Please keep them coming.

[rajandesai]

Thank you all for looking and providing valuable feedback. The image indeed is over sharpened - I am trying out a new workflow in LR4 and may have applied little too much sharpening during export.
Does the following, reworked photo look okay?
114504

Once again I really appreciate your feedback...

Cheers,
Rajan

[RakeshDhareshwar]

The repost is adorable !!! Sweet light , great comp !!! Welcome to BPN !