Displaying American Oystercatcher

Here is a shot of a displaying American Oystercatcher from 4/24/16. From Breezy Point in Queens, New York. Normally I try not to shoot off the sun angle but in this case the bird was angled and had a perfect sun angle, despite the shadow not being right behind it. Taken in late evening light.

Canon 7dii and Canon 500 f4 ii + 1.4x iii. ISO 500, F8, SS 1/2000. Tripod Mounted while lying in sand.

Converted in DPP 4. Auto White Balance. In PS I leveled, added some canvas, sharpened and applied noise reduction to background. Small amount of beach clean up. Added cyan in selective color to the reds to tone down the glowing beak.

Good behavioral shot Isaac and IQ is excellent. Love the background. Do these birds have a double pupil?

Thanks. Yes they have a double pupil. I have been told that it is the females that have this but just about every oystercatcher that I have photographed has the double pupil so I don't think I have only photographed females.

Awesome shot. Great details on the bird and I love the display..
Well done.

Very nice I since the entire shadow is not within the frame I might be temped to remove it or round it off within the frame.

Thanks Joe. I thought about doing something with the shadow but decided not to because if I rounded it off then the beak would not have any shadow and I think it would be too artificial. Also considered extending the canvas even more and making a shadow but decided that it was best to leave as is. But I'd love to hear others thoughts on that.

Excellent shot with very nice soft background.

Magnificent image with beautiful colors, Great IQ and nice low shooting angle.

Regards,
Satish.

Lovely image, Isaac. On my display the shadow appears blue (just profiled this morning). I guess I would evict it. Thank you for sharing.

Hi Isaac, exquisite light, and well timed to get the calling pose and raised tail. Exposure is spot on, as is the sharpness, and the two tone BG is a killer.

Your OC'S are so much more colourful than ours, as ours are mainly black all over. Ours also have the red beaks and strange pupils too.

Thanks guys. Really no clue why the shadow shows as blue. I selected the shadow, set color match to neutral and the black and white set to default. Seemed to have removed the color cast.

Really like the pose and the IQ is excellent,think the out of placed feather adds interest,not seen these birds but the beak and the eye colour do look a little strong on my monitor but like I say have not seen them myself only the European ones.

Keith.

What a great pose you caught her in. Love the exposure, colors and details and the graduated Bg looks fantastic. Very nice capture Isaac. They don't literally have a double pupil, just more black pigment throughout the eye.
Looks like all you are getting is females as the males pupils are perfectly round.

Great image quality, behavior and POV. I especially love your beautiful, soft background.