Golden Light Lesser Yellowlegs.

[Daniel Cadieux]

There is nothing quite like getting out into the field for sunrise and catching the first golden rays of sunshine . After a few sessions of belly-crawling in the shallow water / mud / sand / muck I'm finding the 500mm lens quite the workout compared to my 100-400...but very manageable nonetheless. I was looking forward to this time of year as a true test for the hand-holdability of this lens and I am very pleased with it.

Canon 7D + 500mm f/4 II + 1.4TC, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/1000s., f/6.3, ISO 800, natural light, handheld, about 70% FF, a couple of short distracting vertical twigs cloned out.

[vishaljadhav]

Low level on the shot made all the difference , giving a superb foreground and a classic BG

Details on the bird look nice and i love the light, the raised foot adds a lot of interest to me in the image
Wonderfully executed

[Steve Kaluski]

An awesome image Daniel, the vibrant colours are spectacular creating a powerful image, nice one.

TFS
Steve

[Ishmeet Sahni]

Super perspective, the light is amazing... also love the brush stroke kind of effect in the BG, the IQ is very good. Amazingly taken.

[Bill Dix]

Gorgeous light, great pose with raised foot, wonderful color. Terrific low POV; don't put the lens in the water.

[PhilCook]

An amazing and eye catching array of colors Daniel, great bit of eye candy ! Bird looks great too, raised leg is well timed, and the light in early morning certainly makes for a lovely effect.

Yes the 500 is a bit of a beast to hand hold, but great results are obtainable often by doing so...however after doing this for a while now my left shoulder muscles are torn and not healing very well, { age may be a contributing factor } but something to watch out.

[Randy Stout]

Dan:

Really feel like I am part of the birds world with this image, the low shooting angle, 'painted' background, strong colors overall.

I could see a version with a sliver off the top, but like it very much as presented.

Cheers

Randy

[Fernando Diez]

Great light, Daniel, I like the low point of view, colors and bg.
Regards, Fer

[arash_hazeghi]

that is one colorful photo Dan! well done

[Frank Schauf]

Beautiful and colorful image.

[BobbyPerkins]

Excellent low POV & sweet light. Couldn't agree with you more:

"There is nothing quite like getting out into the field for sunrise and catching the first golden rays of sunshine"

Especially belly crawling in the muck with a super-telephoto! Just curious now with the bigger glass (though you say managable), if you are considering a ground pod like the Skimmer to help push that big boy around in the slop?

[Karl Egressy]

Great light, beautiful background and a very nice pose, Daniel.

[Shawn Zierman]

That line of vegetation under the bird is fantastic. This is a gorgeous image in many regards....I can tell when I have not crawled around for a while...when I do, I rediscover abdominal muscles that don't get much use otherwise :) You could do a whole instructional video on how to get up from a lying position in the water/muck with this gear!

[Carl Day]

Lovely light Dan. I like the POV too, cool shot.

Cheers,

Carl.

[mohammad reza shahab]

Excellent light, great pose and BG.

[Girish Prahalad]

the light & the colors are amazing! lovely comp, POV & details.