Willet Flapping After Bath/500 II/1.4X/1D X Hand Held Again

[Arthur Morris]

From my wonderful morning at DeSoto on September 16. With the 500mm f/4L IS, the 1.4X III TC, and the EOS-1D X. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop: 1/1600 sec. at f/6.3.

To see the original and read a short tutorial on photographing bathing birds, click here.

Don't be shy; all comments welcome.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Lovely action and all the techs look perfect, I like the slight blur on the wing tips, it seems to exemplify the action.

[jack williamson]

The overall color is excellent and the bird really pops from the surrounding water.

Jack

[gareth thomson]

Hi - I too like the blur on the wingtips and love the feather detail (but miss the reflection of the photographer in the bird's eye - like one you posted earlier this week and which left me too speechless to comment). Since I'm new to all this, I just want to ask a question. My instinct would have been to move the highlight slider to the right to knock down the brightness of the water. Your chose not to do that. And my guess is that others will corroborate your decision. So I have to ask why... so I can use this as a learning opportunity. thanks gt

[dankearl]

Very nice Arthur, subtle and very attractive. Maybe just a tad more contrast for me, but just a personal preference.

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

I am fine with contrast in this image, I would like it a tad darker and a catch light would not hurt either. Over all an excelent image and yes, I red your blog on how you made this image. Great info on you APTATS II.

[Marina Scarr]

Your Willet is looking rather ethereal. I like the movement in the wings.

[Arno Ellmer]

Lovely wing pose,wing blur,HA and great complementary bg, Artie. I'm interested in your thought process in selecting EC +2/3 in this situation ?

[Shawn Zierman]

Easily one of the most beautiful underwing detail shorebirds there is in North America.
Your image does a nice job illustrating why. It's just fine as is, but I would prefer a lower
angle. The water color and surface texture is a little bland here, a lower shooting angle
would probably have yielded a more interesting canvas.

[Arthur Morris]

As I recall, I was seated. When I got on the ground I was not happy with the distant mangrove backgrounds being in the wrong spot. They were problematic with a long series of otherwise lovely Marbled Godwit images. So no, in this situation getting lower would have likely made things worse. A zillion years ago I did an article for what was thenn Birder's World on Willet, something to the effect of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.... (wings up/wings down).

[Frank Schauf]

Perfect comp and bg, nice work.