Buffbreasted Sandpiper Displating #1

Canon 1 DX
600mm and 1.4X
ISO 400 F 5.6 SS 1/1000
I was incredibly fortunate to watch this amazing sandpiper display for his lady. I was also a "bad" photographer who got caught up in the excitement of the moment of seeing this "lifer" and didn't check my settings. I took about 75 frames of this display but because my DOF was so shallow, the head was ever so slightly out of focus on most of them. The bird was also looking the other way for a lot of these images. This is full frame crop from horizontal. I had to add a sliver of canvas to the bottom of the frame (2%) and took the same amount off the top.
There was a grass that was sticking directly into his butt so I cloned that out.
Comments and critiques always appreciated and learned from.
My next post will show the other wing raised with a view of the under wing visible.
My usual PP: NR to BG, levels,boosted saturation by +2, above mentioned cloning, DE to bird and USM to JPEG
Gail

Looks OK to me Gail.
Typical wader wing up job!Not a bird I,ve seen yet
JohnR

A fine capture despite your tribulations and excitement. Great pose, nice environment. I can see the added canvas, but only because you told me to look for it. Well done.

The pose is just superb. Certainly something not often seen, let alone photographed. There are some things that I would play with where this in my files….The belly looks a bit dark. While what ever adjustments you make have to look natural to the light angle, I'd try to bring it up just a touch…maybe even an adjustment like the brightness slider in Viveza. And I would minimize the shadowy areas in the background using Nik's tonal contrast module. Not eliminate them, just bring them up a bit. Small suggestions to play with, I'm certainly not suggesting that you do much with this image, just tweaks.

Striking pose and striking IQ, Gail. This bird is very high on my most wanted list.

Hi gail
Excellent pose. Perfect exposure & light.very nice eye contact .

Superb shot, Gail! Excellent pose, colors and composition! Well done!

Love the clarity & detail in this, Gail! Well done!

I like the dynamic pose and display of habitat, light was not on your side in this frame