Taken last summer in Iceland as Gail B. and I weathered the rainstorm... We were shooting the female and whammo: all six chicks busted loose from under mama and ran in every direction. Because of the lovely vegetation and how wee small they are, it isn't possible to get a "clean" shot so i did my best to remove a few intersecting grasses... Downy chicks leave their nest with adult female within a day after hatching. Female tends young, but young feed themselves. When they were out from brooding, the chicks would slide their beak along a stalk of grass to get a few drops of rain to drink. This image may not be pleasing to some bc of the busy BG, however, for me, it brings back a joyful memory and an inside view of this tiny creature just starting its life... the rump feathers are overshadowed by green grass and i couldn't do anything to improve that area... The chick is approximately 4x4 inches!
D500
500mmPF
ISO 1600
6.3
1/1000
09-17-2020, 07:10 PM
David Roach
Love the rain drops on the vegetation and chick and all the splashes of color from flowers. May not be classic "Birds as Art" but I love it just as much. TFS
ps
Great job isolating one of those cuties...
09-17-2020, 10:40 PM
Brian Sump
Ann, super cute shot. Yeah it may not be perfect in terms of traditional composing but the story certainly adds.
It appears the head angle is a bit away? The colors and dew drops help the frame a bunch.
I've never seen a mature or chick Rock Ptarmigan so thanks for the biological insights!
09-18-2020, 12:42 PM
Randy Stout
Ann:
A fun image, not 'clean' but nature often isn't . The chick is cute, lots of colorful bits, rain.
A very small change I might consider is to remove the stem right in front of his beak. Would give him just a bit more visual space.
Cheers
Randy
09-18-2020, 01:18 PM
dankearl
Very cool chick photo and the splashes of color are great...
I assume you cropped as much as you thought reasonable but I would go tighter if you could...
09-18-2020, 03:26 PM
John Mack
Too cute. The flowers are great. The rain/rain drops makes a nice addition as well.