As Promised....

[Grace Scalzo]

Here's a landscape orientation from the series that I shot of this bb plover. The vertical comp is a few threads lower and some of you wanted to see a landscape v. (Both were shot as viewed, and cropped for comp) The layers of bg are as follows (bottom up). Tidal pool, sand, another layer of the pool, grassy edge of shore. There was a dark spot and a light highlight that I removed via the clone stamp at 40% opacity. Smoothed the green a bit at the top. I liked this exposure because it allows for the details in the dark to come out, but the white on the head was just a little warm, so I toned that down with NIK Tonal contrast, and then extracted a bit of detail. Smoothed the bg with a bit of shadow recovery (Nik), then ran nr, sharpened, done.

Thanks for looking.

1/2000, f 7.1, ISO800
Canon 1Dmk4, 500 F4 + 1.4tc + ground pod.

[Sachin Saraf]

Grace, I loved this one...Nice Pose, HA, Exposure and IQ...That BG really makes it special...TFS

[David Salem]

Another beautiful shot. To be honest, I like the first one better. Not that this one is bad but the comp, HA and sharpness are better on the previous post IMO. Great Job as always..

David

[Marina Scarr]

Your BG is stunning and prefer this pose and presentation without the OOF reflection. This version is much more powerful although I think your plover needs a tad more sharpening.

[Melissa Groo]

I too prefer this version, the attention is full on the beautiful plover and this comp also makes the most of that stunning background. Also, yes to a tad more sharpening. Lovely image, Grace.

[Jack Breakfast]

Hi Grace, I like this one but do prefer the vertical. I really enjoyed the plover's reflection, and also preferred its pose. I found the vertical more striking, more pleasing. Also, I like the background but felt the perfect amount was shown in the vertical. One man's meat is another man's poison!

[Grace Scalzo]

You folks are just too good. Something happened on the first upload ... file size seems is too small? Try this version for sharpness.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Grace, thank you for showing this version, and it has really turned out exceptionally well. Perfect placement in the frame, and of course, the layered BG puts this over the top.

[David Salem]

Re-post is much improved. Looks Great...

David

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Still great, but I am a fan of your original composition.

[James Galletto]

Grace it's a great image from a magical place.

[Ofer Levy]

Repost looks great! I much prefer this one over the previous post. If anything maybe a tiny bit off the top.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I prefer this one too. The main reason is the more profile pose of the plover. I always thought shorebirds looked a bit funny when the tail is semi-hidden by being angled away. Love the BG, and it is always fun to see various molting patterns.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Beautiful shot. The layers in the Bg make it winner. perfect choice of shooting angle. Sharpening looks very good in the repost. Placement and size of the plover could not have been better.

[Jim Crosswell]

Excellent image Grace. I like the composition, BG, pose and repost is a big improvement.

[arash_hazeghi]

excellent the repost looks great