I shot this image at a local beach about 30 mins after sunrise. It was a very cold and windy day. Even at low tide, the shorebird numbers were quite low and the birds were very skittish. I laid prone on a part of the beach with lots of pools and green moss, hoping that the birds would eventually get acclimatized to my presence. The birds just didn't cooperate, but as I was about to give up, a solitary Dunlin walked right up to me, giving great views and almost filling the frame. Unfortunately, the spooky behaviour of the other birds meant that I had a 1.4x TC on. Ideally, I'd opt for a slightly looser crop, but the detail and light in this frame really caught my eye. I added a hair of canvas around the bird for composition and cloned out a few distracting specular highlights on the bill.
Camera - Nikon D850
Focal Length - 700mm
Aperture - f/8
Shutter Speed - 1/2500s
ISO - 1000
Handheld
Manual, Auto ISO
~90% of Full-frame
As always, all comments & CC are appreciated :bg3:
03-03-2020, 02:08 PM
Stu Bowie
Hi Aditya, great low perspective, and I like the walking pose with the slightly raised foot. The feather detail shows up nicely, and overall, nice and sharp. I do like the colour of the water.
03-03-2020, 02:49 PM
John Mack
The low angle is great. Love that blue background. Nice to have a slightly raised foot. Framing is right on.
03-03-2020, 02:51 PM
dankearl
Nice low shooting angle and details.. The bird just does not look very happy to me....
03-03-2020, 03:34 PM
Jonathan Ashton
A fine shot Aditya, exposure is good, personal taste I think I would lower contrast a tad on the bird. I like the foam on the legs. I appreciate the eye is dark but maybe just a hint of eye doctoring to demonstrate the pupil v iris.
03-03-2020, 07:18 PM
Anthony Barsotti
Really like this one Aditya, nice low perspective and the out of focus surf makes for a beautiful background. I really like the tiny bit of green in the foreground too, my only criticism would be that I'd have liked to have seen the bird walking towards you, still a really nice frame though and the head angle is great.
03-04-2020, 10:45 AM
Dorian Anderson
Great low view, the blue background really makes him pop. He was certainly very close, so you handled the composition challenge well. I'm a stickler for sharp legs, but I understand it was tough to get them in focus with
him so close. I agree with lowering contrast on the bird; he looks the slightest bit crunchy on the back. Details are otherwise excellent.
03-04-2020, 08:49 PM
gail bisson
Terrific low POV.
I love the foam on the legs. The blues are very nice and work well with the rather plain bird.
I also like that lone ilttle brown feather on the flank.
Nice catchlight.
Your PP work is excellent and I can not tell you added canvas.
I would not have noticed a contrast issue had I not read the previous comments. Still looks Ok to me,
Gail
03-04-2020, 10:32 PM
Alex Becker
Nice low POV. I like the raised foot, but would have like to see it out just a bit more to be picky. Foam on the legs is very cool. Nice rich colors. Maybe a little crunchy on the details, but not so noticeable either. TFS