Processed One Year After the Fact!

[Arthur Morris]

This image of an adult American Oystercatcher dining on a surf clam was created at Nickerson Beach, Long Island, NY last summer with the tripod-mounted Canon 800mm f/5.L IS lens, the 1.4X III TC, and the Canon EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1/3 stop: 1/800 sec. at f/8 in Manual mode. Central sensor (by necessity) on the bird’s neck/AI Servo/Rear Focus AF active at the moment of exposure. Click here if you missed the Rear Focus Tutorial.

With the long effective focal length being seated behind my lowered tripod made it seem as if I were right on the ground.

To see the before and after image clean-up animated GIF click here.

Don't be shy; all honest comments appreciated.

[arash_hazeghi]

great shot Arite, the shell makes this one special. must be tasty! excellent iridescent blacks and very sharp details

[Bill Dix]

Beautiful light, great behavior captured. Love the silky bg, open clam, head angle. Wish the grey triangular strip at the bottom weren't there.

[Marina Scarr]

The light is absolutely stunning, and your low angle really paid off. Great behavior captured. Even the inside of the shell is lit up! I viewed your before image. I like that you chose to include some of the elements because I feel it balances out the image and gives it more character...more of a story. If this were someone else's picture and you were critiquing it, I dare say you would find the diagonal line in the FG somewhat distracting. I personally feel that the light is so stunning that ones eye is immediately drawn to the subject matter.

[RakeshDhareshwar]

Love the low angle and the brilliant warm light here !!!

[Ofer Levy]

Excellent behaviour shot! Sharp with excellent detail. No other lens can beat the Canon 800 f5.6 in similar focal length.....

[Peter Scholer]

Wonderful clarity and color. It really pops.
The body and HA with a piece of clam in the open beak is simply magnificent. Background is great. An extremely pleasant image to view.
The lowered tripod and long effective focal length is a technique that I must apply in the future. For birds on the ground. Thanks for all the information.

[christopher galeski]

Beautiful image,magic light,good low angle,good detail,like the shellfish and bird feeding onit,I too wish the grey strip bottom left was not there,but still a very nice image.thanks.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks all. I really do not mind the grey wedge :). It cannot be cropped out and eliminating would leave the lower part of the image too sterile for me. Will post some other keepers from that afternoon this afternoon on the blog.

Peter, you are most welcome. If you like learning, you would love the blog :).

[PhilCook]

Agree with all said, especialy love the eye and the open shell, just magic photography Arthur....and like to add...I'm glad an Oystercatcher finally managed to chase, run down and " catch" an Oyster { Clam } hehehe

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Phil. A surf clam is about ten times bigger and heavier than the average oyster. And this species rarely consumes oysters other than on the lower mid-Atlantic coast, around Virginia for example.

[Frank Schauf]

Perfect in every way, Arthur.

[Karl Egressy]

Excellent picture, Artie. I like the lighting, composition and detail. Rear focus works for many people.
I used it about three years back for I while until due to confusion I lost a great BIF opportunity, as I forgot to push the rear focus botton.
So I switched back. Now the rear botton stops focusing for me in order to recompose. (If I remember to use it)

[Arthur Morris]

I hated having to switch from One-Shot to Servo so I bit the bulletin and went to rear focus 100% of the time with all bodies and never looked back.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Artie - great techs as usual and the clam really adds to it. No one else has mentioned it but I see a halo along the top of the head and back.

TFS,
Rachel

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Artie - great techs as usual and the clam really adds to it. No one else has mentioned it but I see a halo along the top of the head and back. TFS, Rachel

Thanks and YAW. Perhaps a faint halo??? Weare looking forward to meeting you at the NYC seminar in DEC!

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Artie, me too!

[Sachin Saraf]

Artie this is superb image and that shell really makes it special...I too switched to RF recently and it really makes it easy to switch between AI Servo and one Shot...I could shot few running plover images recently which I could not have been able to do If I were shooting with Shutter AF/ One Shot setting.

Your Blog has plenty to learn from. Looking forward to see more images and hope to meet you sometime at Nickerson

[Arthur Morris]

Artie this is superb image and that shell really makes it special...I too switched to RF recently and it really makes it easy to switch between AI Servo and one Shot...I could shot few running plover images recently which I could not have been able to do If I were shooting with Shutter AF/ One Shot setting. Your Blog has plenty to learn from. Looking forward to see more images and hope to meet you sometime at Nickerson

Thanks Sachin. Just think think how much you could learn at the NYC Seminar DEC 8-9! I sent you a personal invite via e-mail; did you get it?

[Sachin Saraf]

Yes Artie, got your message...Sent reply.

[Arthur Morris]

Yes Artie, got your message...Sent reply.

Got it. Thanks!

[Randy Stout]

Artie:

Lovely image with nice behaviour display.

I took a quick pass at modifying the brown band. Perhaps a little softer, less abrupt change.

Cheers

Randy

[Arthur Morris]

Artie: Lovely image with nice behaviour display. I took a quick pass at modifying the brown band. Perhaps a little softer, less abrupt change. Cheers, Randy

Thanks Randy. Your version is certainly an option. But when I view the two I miss that in the original the brown tones of the sand move the viewers eye around the frame as they complement the brown tones of the birds wings and back.

[Randy Stout]

Artie:

I reread some of the earlier posts in the thread, and saw your comment about removing the brown leaving the image too sterile. Missed that, so realize repost was unnecessary.

Cheers

Randy

[Arthur Morris]

Randy, Reposts are always appreciated if only because they get folks thinking :). I often comment/repost without reading the thread.