piper plover with brood

I took this image early this morning at Plum Island in Massachusetts. The 4 chicks scurry around the beach. Parents watch and try to get among the chicks as best they can. When a few get too far away, or if the chicks get nervous on their own, or it is cold, the adult calls them with a little chirp and they (usually) come running. After a few minutes the adult will get up and they scatter again.

D7100 with 600 VR and 1.4 tc. I have been using the D7100 more and the D800 less where I need reach to get as many pixels on the subject as possible. Small crop.

1/1250 f/8 iso 1250. I usually like a lower iso but the chicks move quicker and the dof is very narrow.

Attachment 129637

LOL, look at all the feet that bird has!

This is a lovely image, Allan. Sweet light and techs seem right on to me. The BG is perfect.

This one brings a smile to my face.
I like the light on the plover and the good IQ.
I see some ? masking artifact behind the bird between the feathers. I would also do some NR on the BG on lower LHS
Gail

Always love seeing these images with the chicks tucked under mom and all you can see are legs!!! The light and sand look great. I am seeing noise in the chicks and some of the sand which could use some NR. I would reduce the yellows a tad b/c your whites are looking yellow. I think you'll like the result. Very fine image, Allan!

Wonderful!! I love how that one is leaning in!

Good suggestions from the others about the PP. Wonderful light and setting. Overall, a very sweet image!

Beautiful image Allen,love the light and the colors,sharp with good detail,looks like a centipede of the bird world:S3:,well done.

Thanks for the comments and suggestions. I do have one question concerning noise reduction in the subject (chicks) since Marina mentioned it. I often select my subject and then apply nr to the rest of the scene, not the subject. I do this especially when there are large areas with little detail such as sky. I don't apply nr to the main subject as I am afraid of losing detail and sharpness.

Does the nr on the chicks stand out because I used nr on the bg? Would it be better to not use any nr at all? How importaant is it to reduce noise?

wonderful moment! lovely colors & head turn

Fantastic capture! These little guys are so always fun to shoot during breeding season. Well done!

Love the light quality/warmth...goes great with the subject matter being shown. Excellent eye contact/head angle on the adult.
The noise on the mound of sand on the left hand side is prominent and could be decreased with good effect. There is some type
of straight edge pp selection line under the adult bird's primary tips...that could be easily dealt with. I don't mind the small amount of
noise on the birds here...Great moment, well captured sir.

Wonderful shot.
Love the warm light, excellent pose and details.
Terrific shooting angle too.
Well done.

Sweet image Allan, agree with the noise.
Also, do you have a tad more room on the bottom?

Shawn, I don't see how I missed fixing the problem by the adult‘s wing. :-)

Troy, I cropped a bit off the bottom as it was all oof like the bottom right.

I want one of these images. So sweet. You had the sweetest light and you got great detail. Nicely done

Quote:

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Originally Posted by allanrube

I do have one question concerning noise reduction in the subject (chicks) since Marina mentioned it. I often select my subject and then apply nr to the rest of the scene, not the subject. I do this especially when there are large areas with little detail such as sky. I don't apply nr to the main subject as I am afraid of losing detail and sharpness.

Does the nr on the chicks stand out because I used nr on the bg? Would it be better to not use any nr at all? How importaant is it to reduce noise?

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I usually do a round of NR in ACR (the PS6 version) which is very effective...and the same as the one in LR4. Sharpening must be applied also in ACR. Then in PS I usually use Noise Ninja but often don't need it b/c the new NR in the latest version of PS & LR is really quite good. There is quite a bit of noise in your BG but also quite a bit in the chicks' bellies. Your image has a lot of details, and I think it can handle the NR. I would post this in the Digital Workflow Forum and ask Don Lacy for his help in how to handle the NR most effectively since I am NO PS expert.

It seems a lot of people are more concerned with noise than I am. When I lose details with NR I back off. I use NX2 with my Nikon raw files but never use NR.

Marina, I will post this image in the workflow forum as you suggest. Thanks.

I commented over there in that thread. It almost sounds like there is some confusion of noise with over-sharpening artifacts -- not in the BG but in the in-focus sand around the feet.

I've had very good results with NeatImage for NR, as recommended by Arash. But NR and sharpening often just cncel one another -- it's a tricky situation and the best cure is low ISO and proper exposure, which for me means expose as high as I can without blowing out highlights beyond recovery in the raw converter.