The bulk of shorebirds have left for warmer climes but beaches in my home area still produce these gems of the bird world. Today it was 4.5°C in the early morning and this juvenile Semipalmated Sandpiper was huddled between large cobbles on the beach at Johnson's Mills. When you get low, their feet are invisible but personally I am fine with that. This was the first field test for me of my new Canon 500/4II and I have to say I like it! This was in early morning light before the sun had come up to light the birds.
Not much done except a slight crop (I was close and they were unconcerned) and the standard down-sample and sharpen for BPN.
Date: 25 September, 2012, Time: 0810h
Camera: Canon EOS-1D Mark IV
Lens: EF500mm f/4L IS II USM +1.4x, @ 700 mm
Program: Manual
ISO 800, 1/200s, f/7.1
Flash: off
Very nice, John. The tack sharp bird jumps out at the viewer, surrounded as is is by soft elements that frame the bird. And the head angle and eye contact are great.
I'd say your new equipment has passed its first test with flying colors.
Hi John - that's a great shot. Yep, the bird's feet aren't visible, but that can add to the sheltering effect. Love the shapes of the rocks which echo those of the bird. I tend to agree w/ Randy's comment about darkening the foreground rock and taking a sliver off the bottom. Frame it. gt
Great setting! The bird is tucked away nicely in between those rocks,
and it's squat posture mirrors the form of the rocks beautifully.
Excellent eye level image.
I like this image. You got in close, and you got low on a very rocky shore on a cold morning--no easy task. But I think you could tell the story of the "plover among the rocks" and still show us a bit more of the bird. The long rock in the FG is not so much telling the story of the plover among the rocks as it is barring us from seeing more of the bird.
I like the concept of the image and I am OK with the feet not showing in this case. I do wish the FG rock was softer, not as defined. I love the BG ones. I am certain you left the WB as is deliberatley, but have you experimented with a warmer version too?
Hi John,
I am the odd woman out as I would prefer to see a bit more of the bird. To fool the eye into thinking that I can see more of him I would crop from the bottom and the right a bit.
I really like the BG rocks and the IQ is awesome.
Gail
Thanks everyone for the great suggestions. Gail and others- I agree the rock at the bottom is not ideal. A crop may work there. Daniel- the image does look cold. I just took what ACR gave me. It was early morning before the sun had come up. I will play with white balance.