Long-billed Curlew : Sunset Silhouette

[Mike Milicia]

Canon 1D X, 500mm f/4L IS +1.4xII, 1/1600, f/5.6, ISO 800
Handheld

Photographed last month during my workshop in Morro Bay, CA.

[Holger Leyrer]

Boah, that is very great.
(If it were mine i would remove the both black leg-reflection in the golden water.)

[Bret Goddard]

I agree on the reflection but still beautiful, nicely done!

[Geoffrey Montagu]

Hi Mike,

Beautiful silhouette and the reflection of legs add a bit of animation and depth to the image for me.

Geoffrey

[douglas hayes]

Well I like the leg reflection-retains a certain reality and depth of field. What were your metering details? Good capture

[Grace Scalzo]

Not usually a huge fan of sils but this one rocks with that great striding pose and beautiful striations in the background.

[Mike Milicia]

Thanks to all for taking the time to comment!

Doug, I was using manual exposure and started with +1 off the bright sand using spot metering and then tweaked to taste. IMO, with this kind of shot, it is more important to get the bright sand looking the way you want it than to worry about the silhouette which you can always darken in post-processing if it is showing a little more detail than you would like. I prefer the silhouette to be pure black.

[Daniel Cadieux]

As a fan of silhouettes this one works for me, leg reflections and all! Just the correct WB "temperature" for my taste and a neat striding pose (I especially dig the bit of wet sand compression under the rear foot).

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Mike, love the outline of the silhouette, and against a great coloured BG. I also like the lines of the incoming waves.

[Frank Schauf]

Very nice pose and colors.