Masked Lapwing

Masked Lapwing (Spur-Wing Lapwing or black-shouldered lapwing) Although I found this plover at the beach, they are common throughout Australia, and not to be confused with the little hooded plover, who is a much smaller shore bird. Not noticeable here is the spur on the birds wing. I do have a couple of frames that show that.

My computer died earlier this week and after lots of fiddling and threats it has sparked back to life. I don't know how long for.

In ACR - Highlights to the left and shadows to the right. Exposure increased a tad.
In PSCS6 - Curves adjustment layer on whole image, Hue/sat layer on BG. NR on BG. Smart sharpened for posting.

Canon 5D2
Canon 70-200mm@113mm
f6.3
1/3200
ISO 640
Hand held

C&C Always welcomed and appreciated!

Love this one Glennie, great pose, DOF, lighting is great, love the mask on the bird! The raised foot really adds to the image.

Wonderful colors. Muted browns; complementary green BG and pinkish legs. I've never seen a bird that looks like this one. Fascinating. The head, which for me tells the story, is rendered perfectly. It is clearly the center of interest and rewards the viewer with lots of detail. Nice capture.

Regrets for the computer.

Hi Glennie, I agree with what Jim said about the head being the star of the show here. The raised leg adds interest to the surrounding. Seeing you at 113mm, this bird must've been tame! Wait, beach you said? I would not know that from the picture had you not told us about it. No points deducted for that though.

We want moreee!!

PS. On a separate note, make sure you have everthing backed up Glennie. Hopefully nothing bad will come to the darned machine, but if it does, you will have everything backed up.

Different bird for Glennie, but nothing different about her great capture and rendering. I too am gobsmacked by that yellow .... draws my eyes right there!

Just a question -- why 1/3200sec? I would think of BIFs at that kind of speed, but hey, I'm the guy who can't remember to get over 1/1000 most of the time ... just curious if there was a method to the madness.


AP

Thank you all.

Adhika - I have quite a few frames of this little bird. I was laying in the grass for some time. He got curious and decided to check me out. So a lucky encounter. Yep. This image just past the shoreline looking back into the scrub. They were off the beach because of the extremely windy conditions. I was indeed thankful not to have sand in my face. Yep. Most things on my computer are backed up. Just the things I am working at presently are not. The computer has been working all last night and again this morning....Maybe it just needed a rest!

Andrew - Why 1/3200? I was shooting white bellied sea eagles, in flight. But that's a poor excuse. This trip, for me, was all about experimenting with high SS and high ISO and ETTR.

OK, ETTR wasn't on Diane's list of abbreviations, what does that stand for? Got it, Exposing To The Right!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Warren Spreng

OK, ETTR wasn't on Diane's list of abbreviations, what does that stand for?

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Exposing to the right, Warren. There were a couple discussions on here if I remember correctly, the last one being this one

Thanks

That's not it. It's actually quite sad: EveryThing Turns Rancid.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jim Keener

That's not it. It's actually quite sad: EveryThing Turns Rancid.

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:bg3:

Beautiful image, Glennie! Lovely pose... raised leg is great. BG and FG work well.

Nice catch! Did you work on the BG! It would be great but seems a bit of a noticeable transition from the FG.

I don't know the bird but would wonder if there is a bit more detail in the yellows -- analogous to more detail in highlights. (Black magic...)

Second the grin to Jim! I'll try to remember to go add that to the abbreviations. Should be there, for sure!

Every Thing Turns Rancid! :S3:

Old Eagle Eyes!...ah Grasshopper. I tried to even out the BG and at first, didn't touch the mid ground...then the strip of sand annoyed me, so I kept going. one of my big problems is not knowing when to stop.

I also "thought" about the detail in the mask.

When to stop -- a problem for us all! But you did a heroic job on the BG! If it's a separate layer, as it should be, should be possible to mask back a little at the transition with partial opacity.

Another big grin for Jim!!!

Glennie... I echo Diane's last comment... wowsa!

This one is top notch! The pose, colors and details look great and you did a nice job on the cloning. Well done