Theme: Least Sandpiper Wing Stretch

This image of a Least Sandpiper stretching was taken at Ft. Desoto, FL. I thought this was a Dunlin when I took it, but when I got it home it looks more like a Least Sandpiper to me. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

The image was taken using a Canon 7D mark ii and a 100-400mm ii lens at:

400mm
ISO 100
ƒ7.1
1/640th of a second

I processed it in LRcc by:
-boosting the exposure by 0.36
-slightly boosting the shadows and the whites to move the histogram a bit further to the right.
-i added +50 sharpening to the subject

Thanks for taking a look!

~Noel

Pretty cool pose you captured here Noel. Good POV. But, I think there is too much going on in the BG which distracts my eye from the subject.

Will

A nice low POV with good focus on the subject Noel. I think I'd try removing the dark streak of junk above the head.

Lovely 'bird in it's environment' shot Noel. As already noted, the background and foreground is rather busy with all that seaweed so the bird does get a little lost but your low POV helps to provide some separation. Detail looks excellent but in this case, I think you would have been safer with a higher ISO and faster shutter speed to reduce risk of dud shots, especially as you've had to boost exposure in post processing. Better to over-expose a little but watching the whites don't blow out. Wing stretch adds a nice bit of interest for me.

Thank you all for sharing your thoughts. I tried to removing some of the seaweed from the beach in PS using the patch tool and really just made a mess of it. I'll rework it a few more times to practice using this tool. I think my key take away here is to pay more attention to the BG when choosing a spot on the beach (very easily within my control). Also, I'll try higher ISO's under these conditions.