Purple Sandpiper #2

[Colin Gilyeat]

Another Purple Sandpiper from last weekends IPT at Barnegat with Artie and Denise.

Nikon D7000
Sigma 150-500@500mm
ISO 800
f/7.1
1/640
-1/3EV
Handheld

PP in LR4 to adjust levels and sharpen, cloned out a bright white spot in the uper right corner in PS CS5. I'm not sure if the background could use a little dodging or not. Cropped about 10% around the edges for framing.

Comment and Critiquesm are wlecome.

Colin

[Richard Stern]

Hi,

Nice pose, good bg. Feathering on the head looks a little soft to me, but the rest of the bird is sharp. A slightly lower angle would make it even better, but overall a very nice image. I don't have any problem with the tonality of the bg,but perhaps the seaweed in the fg is a bit prominent.

Richard

[Doug Brown]

Hi Colin. I hope you had fun on the jetty! The striding pose is nice, as is the rock beneath the bird. Sharpness is only so-so, and I think you're underexposed by 1/3 to 2/3 stop. I wish the bird had given you a slightly better head angle.

[Arthur Morris]

Hey Colin, The image is presented way too dark. Be sure to check the calibration strip at the bottom of each BNP page. For the repost I pulled the curve way up, eliminated the white spot lower left, and selectively sharpened the head and face with a contrast mask at 15/6/0.

I like the bird and the pose much better than the previous one. Heck, I like this one a lot.

[Colin Gilyeat]

Artie, Doug and Richard - thanks for the comments and suggestions. Artie, looking at your repost, I can see that my original really was underexposed, I appreciate you taking the time to show me how to improve the images.

Thanks
Colin

[Melvin Grey]

A very nice image of one of my favourite waders/shorebirds, Colin. Artie's re-post has certainly improved the original - we all live and learn, hopefully!

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Colin - Artie's repost has taken this up a notch. the comp works very well with the placement of the bird, the bit of mussels, seaweed and the water in the bg.

TFS,
Rachel