I shot this Marbled Godwit a couple of falls ago at my local "patch" in New Haven, CT. This was a bird that was quite photographable and one evening it was silhouetted against the setting sun and allowed me to get a few exposures that I optimized with Photoshop to get the colors a little more contrasting. I like the water around the legs and the splashes add a bit of "action", though I'd have maybe preferred them in focus.
400mm 5.6 Canon len ISO 200, 800 at 6.3, EV 0.
10-31-2009, 09:56 AM
DeanNewman
Stunning shot, Julian, and great shooting angle. Love the foreground texture and color of BKG light. Splashing water around feet and legs a plus. Not a fan of the water droplets on left side and black dot under bird's breast.
10-31-2009, 12:33 PM
Phil Ertel
Hi Julian, I like this silhouette. I find the splash and water drops to be interesting. The orange background lighting is nice. The silhouette edge is sharp. I like the light that shows through the beak. I might crop a bit from the bottom to just above the water at the bottom. I do like it as presented.
10-31-2009, 12:47 PM
Dave Blinder
Julian, great comp and definition. I think the OOF droplets look fine, and almost bring a lava flow to mind.
10-31-2009, 01:26 PM
Geoff Malosh
Hi Julian, another vote in favor of the background. WHen I saw the thumbnail I thought I'd end up finding it distracting but instead it adds context and makes the image a little more dynamic than if it just had an all-orange background.
10-31-2009, 04:15 PM
Julian Hough
Thanks everyone...maybe some selective cloning of some of the droplets on the left may help!
Thanks for the kind words!
10-31-2009, 04:18 PM
Randy Stout
Julian:
Another nice one. I played with the drops a bit to see if I could selectively sharpen them. The area around the legs came out OK, but the large splash straight down from the tip of the bill didn't respond in a graceful manner to my ministrations.
Cheers
Randy
10-31-2009, 06:19 PM
Gal Shon
A lovely image.
I like the splashes, BG color and silhouette.
10-31-2009, 09:10 PM
Harshad Barve
beautiful colors and bird stands out well in sil
TFS