Took this in May while lying along the edge of Bowdoin Lake, in NE Montana. Mike Milicia and I overlapped there for a couple days and we got to spend some good time with avocets and stilts. Stilts are one of my very favorite shorebirds. I liked how you can see the faint rosy tinge on the breast that they get in breeding plumage.
I had the shutter speed up high as I wanted to be ready for action.
Crop, sharpen.
Thanks so much for any comments and critiques.
Last edited by Melissa Groo; 09-03-2013 at 04:17 PM.
Great pose, lovely light, beautiful water and BG, excellent exposure for both black and white detail, and excruciatingly sharp!
Only thing I would like to see is a tiny bit more room at the bottom … otherwise, this is perfection for me!
By the looks of the light, I'm guessing this was taken the evening that I arrived? Thanks again for scouting out this location before I got there. I was there for 8 more days and never had this kind of light again.
I suspect the trim was made to prevent the comp. from going too square, but I think the overall image will benefit from a bit more room below, even at the expense of a bit squarer crop. It of course would be pretty easy to add a bit of canvas in front if you want to retain the same proportions after adding the room below.
Very nice Stilt shot Melissa. Good job on the exposure, not that easy to get both sides looking good. Classic stride pose with a nice profile. Great that you got the red eye but I might remove one of the catch lights to make it look sharper. Great work.
Black-Necked Stilt Striding
Reply With Quote
