Pectoral sandpiper

[P-A. Fortin]

3rd post out of ETL. Getting better, more confident and more comfortable about my images, which is good (I guess!).

It took about 45 minutes for this one to move far enough from its 2 friends to allow me to get a "1 bird" image. At the end, they were coming within arm's reach. It really is a nice feeling to get "accepted" by a group of birds, even if it means crawling in a stinky swamp for about an hour... (And my friends think I'm crazy...)

The uneven aspect of the ground is due to a very thin layer of ice covering the swamp. You can easily figure out where the bird were foraging at that point.

Canon 7D, 100-400 @ 400mm, f/5.6, 1/1600, ISO 400. No flash. Crop is about 80% of the original. Toned down the background a bit, Nik Tonal Contrast (20% on all settings, fine contrast type) and Detail Extractor (15%) on the bird only. NR on the background. USM on the bird after resizing (75%, 0.3)

[Arthur Morris]

Hey PA, This is quite a lovely image of a fresh juvenile. Love, love, love the BKGR, the soft light, and the colors. Sharp as can be. Keep them coming and welcome to Avian!

[Arthur Morris]

ps: When and where was the image made?

[P-A. Fortin]

Thanks for the kind words. Coming from you is just... great

The image was taken on Oct 14, in Bonnyville (Northeast Alberta). On the southwest shore of Jessie Lake to be exact. Loads of birds there at this time of the year. I also shot a few yellowlegs (lesser/greater) and some long-billed dowitchers. I was there for work and had a day off. Could not resist.

It was taken around 1h30 pm. At this time of the year, the sun is rather low and the day is short, so you can get interesting soft light almost all-day long.

[arash_hazeghi]

great pose, detail, sharpness and light. I like the BG but wish it was just a tad smoother

[P-A. Fortin]

great pose, detail, sharpness and light. I like the BG but wish it was just a tad smoother

Thanks Arash. Do you mean you would prefer the BG more out of focus, or that I should have tried to blur it in post-processing?

[Graeme Cox]

Lovely, very appealing image, great eye contact, Low angle. soft light..

[Joe Murphy]

Lovely looking bird, great POV & detail.

[Girish Prahalad]

lovely pose, POV & IQ.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi PA, love the angled walking pose, sharp, and the colours on the sandpiper look good.

[nick clayton]

I love the nice light which is coming pretty much from behind you, good background, pose and detail make this a great image.

[Holger Leyrer]

I love the pose and the colors.

[Mike Veltri]

Great pose and angle to the bird.

[Daniel Cadieux]

P-A, I like! I'm digging the soft streaking in the water in the lower part of the frame. Nice walking stride and the subject is well detailed and exposed. Congratulations on getting down and dirty for this...I got lots of non bird photography friends thinking I'm crazy...but its the best way to do it! Actually, my wife thinks I'm crazy too

[Satish Ranadive]

Excellent image. Very nice pose, beautiful colors, details, lovely BG and composition.

Regards,
Satish.