Semipalmated Plover with Fiery Background

[Melissa Groo]

Canon 1D Mark IV
500mm +1.4x
Tripod spread low, sitting in water facing beach.

1/2500
f/5.6
ISO 500

Thinking about shorebirds a lot these days and wishing I lived closer to a coast or great lake to catch them on their migration. This is from my time on Long Island a few weeks ago, with Grace, Gail and Emily. I love watching Semipalmated Plovers, as they suddenly scurry, and then just as suddenly freeze, sometimes coming quite close.
The background is some colorful rocks on the beach that were a ways off, the plover was standing out on a bit of a spit. I liked the fiery-colored BG here as much as the bird.
The whites on him took quite a bit of taming. He was facing into the sun. Hope they are ok now.

Thanks for looking, and for any comments and critiques, much appreciated.

[Lyle Gruby]

This is fantastic. Absolutely gorgeous. I agree with you about the BG, it's absolutely beautiful. Whites look spot on to me. I suppose I could see a slightly tighter version with a little bit off the top.

[Bill Dix]

Lovely one, Melissa. Fabulous BG -- fiery indeed; and the detail is terrific, right down to the toenail. The whites look good on my screen. I share your enthusiasm for the small plovers.

[Alan Murphy]

Sweet low angle image, and the BG is very nice. Whites look fine to me.

[Iain Barker]

Great image. So sharp you can see the tiny specks of sand on the bill. Love the background. Can't see anything to find fault with.

[Bhushan Dalvi]

Awesome low angle and great details. Love the background. TFS.

[gail bisson]

Well seen Melissa. Excellent IQ as well. love that little toenail.
I am on my IPad so am limited in giving a more thorough critique but the whites look good to me,
Gail

[Doug Brown]

I like the low angle, the eye contact, and the slight bend in the rear leg. Very nice BG. Nice job with the whites!

[Raymond Lee]

Nice low angle and great details! The whites look good to me and I can see it's not easy in such lighting condition. If it was my image, I might consider brightening up the shadow a bit (probably another layer mask) as an experiment. I could also see a tighter crop of this image if the details hold, especially less of the top and left side.

[Greg Oakley]

Lovely low angle and excellent IQ - great BG as well!

[Melissa Groo]

Thank you very much for the feedback, everyone.