Semipalmated Plover Tug-O-Worm.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Working hard for its next meal, a Semipalmated Plover refuses to let go of the worm...which in turn refuses to let go of the hole it was in and is pretty much stretched to its limit. The winner was of course the plover, who was rewarded with a nice plump juicy meal. I was quite ecstatic that this happened on the very plover I was concentrating on, complete with good subject and light angle!

Canon 7D + 100-400L @400mm, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/1000s., f/7.1, ISO 400 (histogram checked), natural light, handheld (flat on the ground). Cropped for composition. Some clean-up to the FG.

[Jack Breakfast]

I would have been delighted to see this as well. Some nice action captured here in pleasing light. That's one low angle! You must have gotten pretty messy, and possibly fetid! I applaud you!

[Grace Scalzo]

What a sweet looking juvenile caught in great action. Love your low angle and inclusion of habitat, Daniel.

[Jim Crosswell]

Excellent image Daniel. I like the low angle, setting, IQ and composition. Did you get the image where the worm releases and slaps him in the face?

[Arno Ellmer]

Great action shot ,Daniel. Of course you just knew which plover is going to stretch a worm ! . As Jim asks ,did you get the shot on release ?
I love the low angle ,bg and HA.

[MohsenVahedipour]

Excellent low angel & action with perfect exposure. TFS

[Roy Priest]

Terrific shot with some cool action. Like the low angle, comp and background

[David Salem]

Very cool Daniel,

Fun shot but also very well exposed and awesome detail. The light on the bird is perfect!! Nice Job..

David

[Ken Watkins]

Daniel,

A marvelous capture, it never ceases to amaze me just how long a worm can get

[Frank Schauf]

A great situation, congratulations, Daniel.

[Simon Wantling]

I really like this as always Daniel. You've really captured a fun moment.. Thank for posting.

[christopher galeski]

Beautiful image Daniel,nice and low,were you in a hole,very nice light,good exposure,well done.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Ha ha, thanks, and no...no snap-back into the face image. Actually this was rather anti-climatic as the worm snapped back to the ground. The plover then just walked to it and simply picked it off the ground.

[Karl Egressy]

A very interesting action captured at a pleasing angle, Daniel.

[Randy Stout]

Daniel:

Beautifully captured, worms eye shooting angle, nice techs.

I might try a version with a small crop up from the bottom, just above your sig, and maybe tone down the clump of grass by his rump. Minor tweaks really.

Nice of him to perform for you!

Cheers

Randy

[Ofer Levy]

Very nice! Great behaviour captured! The "doctored" eye looks un-natural.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Thanks! In my experience some plovers' eyes show the iris in certain light. This one does, even in the original raw capture...

[Ofer Levy]

Thanks! In my experience some plovers' eyes show the iris in certain light. This one does, even in the original raw capture...

If I can tell the eye was doctored that is not a good sign...

[Daniel Cadieux]

I should have mentioned that I did not touch the iris in this image. All I did was darken the pupil a bit as there was a bit of haziness to it. You are the only one that is consistently on my case about the eyes in my images...unless there is a mass of people out there afraid to point it out then I think I'm doing OK

[Ofer Levy]

I should have mentioned that I did not touch the iris in this image. All I did was darken the pupil a bit as there was a bit of haziness to it. You are the only one that is consistently on my case about the eyes in my images...unless there is a mass of people out there afraid to point it out then I think I'm doing OK

I will happy to see the RAW file and will apologize publically if I am wrong regarding the "doctored" eye. It was you how said just recently that you "doctor" the eye in 95% of your images. SInce this is a critique forum I find your comment "You are the only one that is consistently on my case about the eyes in my images" a bit strange....
I haven't seen other photographers in here who "doctor" the eyes so much as you do.
BTW - other photographers commented about the "doctored" eyes in previous images of yours.

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Great capture Daniel. Nice to be at the right place at the right time ... but more importantly to know what to do to get the shot!

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Dan, now this is one really low down and dirty angle, and I like it lots. Super comp 'stretched' across the frame, and I like the softer light and overall colours. Very well captured.

[Manjeet & Yograj Jadeja]

excellent composition

[David Pugsley]

Love it! Agree about a slight crop from the bottom.

[Sachin Saraf]

Daniel, This is wonderful capture showing environment and behavior, superb low angle, exposure and IQ..that stretched worm allows for small in frame bird.

[Sanjeevprakash]

Beautiful Shot Daniel.Lovely Colors and nice low angle.

[Marina Scarr]

First of all, I am happy to see that you have gotten some sun...unless this is an older image. I hope the former. This is one of your best that I have seen, Daniel. The behavior and action is just over the top. I would try another version with some off of the bottom, as well as left and right. The reason for this is that while I love the low angle on this one, having so much OOF FG is a bit distracting from such terrific action/behavior. I pulled it into PS and found a crop I thought worked quite well.

[Josh Clark]

Tasty meal! Great shot! Love the action here. Can't help but wonder if that worm slapped him in the face. :) Great shot with nice included habitat.

[Martin Lord]

Really, really cool action shot. It's very neat that the whole worm is in focus. I would add my vote for a narrower bottom.

Best,
/martin