Piping Plover in golden light

[Sachin Saraf]

Taken at last light at low tide when a family of Piping plovers was feeding on a muddy beach..flat on my belly in mud.

Tried to retain the light as I saw it but not sure if it works.

So please let me know if this can be improved.



PP - some beach cleaning in FG, applied NR to BG, Sharpening using USM and cropped.

Canon 7D | 1/1000 | f/6.3 | 700 mm | ISO 400

[Rachel Hollander]

Sachin - you certainly retained the beautiful light, nice low pov and comp. Well done.

TFS,
Rachel

[Grace Scalzo]

Lots to like, and a couple suggestions. THe light is beautiful and the way he is extracting his meal from the shell is perfect. Nice that you can see both feet as they often get lost when flat on belly on an uneven mud flat. As for the processing, I feel that the bird is quite centered in the frame, I might put him (Actually, could be a "her") lower and more to the left. There is evidence that something bright was removed from above his back and it looks like the burn tool was heavily used on the shells, making them gray. Sharpening looks perfect, not over done.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Sachin, I like the feeding pose, and that we can see the muddy beak. The light certainly is still sweet, well exposed, and I agree with Grace to move the plover back a touch.

[Marina Scarr]

The light is killer here as is the low angle. Love seeing the beak in the shell. Bird too centered for me and agree with Grace's suggestions. Good job on getting low.

[Sachin Saraf]

Thanks Everyone...

Grace, You are spot on

Will follow all you suggested here...the moment I posted this I realized this is too centered. Will re rework on this.

[Sachin Saraf]

I quickly cropped in Flickr provided tool and here is the result...

[Joe Senzatimore]

Re-post look much better.
Love the light.

[gail bisson]

Repost looks good. I would touch up the shells to get rid of the grey cast from ? burning too much.
Love the light, low POV and feeding behavior,
Gail

[Sidharth Kodikal]

I love the intimate, close-up view, the gorgeous light and the nice details, Sachin.
The low angle works nicely and I like the comp in the repost. Nicely done.

[dankearl]

The light is killer, I would to see the next frame (or the previous), if you have it, with the beak out.
Well done.

[christopher galeski]

very nice,love the light,nice low angle,repost better.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Looks like its taking a sip from water in the upturned shell...cool! Repost looks better. I do find the large rock behind the subject distracting, but better shaded than fully sunlit! Great light BTW, it does indeed look good. Did you remove elements that were touching the plover's back?

[Sachin Saraf]

Did you remove elements that were touching the plover's back?

Yes Daniel there was OOF bright yellow rock in distance which was cloned.

I would to see the next frame (or the previous), if you have it

Yes, Dan I will post few from that day soon..

Thanks everyone for nice comments and suggestions...

[Frank Schauf]

Wow, great light and pose.