Least Sandpiper Reflection.

After last year's bust of a fall shorebird migration due to high water levels everywhere locally, it is "back into business" this year and boy does it feel good to be able to crawl around in the muck and water again!! At the beginning of the season I joking told a couple of colleagues that all it took was one Least Sandpiper to make me happy...a few days later, I got my one:t3.

Canon 7DII + 500mm f/4 II + 1.4TC III, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/1000s., f/5.6, ISO 800, natural light, handheld, a few imperfections removed but rather minimal. Desaturated the fresh leaves as they were glowing green too much. No idea where that "arc" in the reflection comes from (it's in the raw file), but I opted to leave it in.

Nice and sharp, maybe lower the contrast a tad??
Reflection of bird is superb but there is a circle shaped dark area above it that does not appear in the BG above.
I would smooth it out or fix whatever it is..i think you just missed on the masking?

Near perfect reflection. That arc is odd, and it does falsely incriminate your PP so best to remove IMO

Yes, that arc is an odd element, and I did mention it was there in the raw file. I almost did get rid of it in post, and likely will now as well.

I like the low angle, reflection and head turn. That is a weird arc….wonder what caused it? Nice work

I would take this anyday. The reflection is great. Nice light and pose.

Looks great to me. I have seen some strange inexplicable things in a few raw files before ... Juvie leasts are simply gorgeous. And so is this image.

with love, artie