Fuzzy Feast

[John Flynn]

A Piping Plover chick chomping down on a tasty wasp. Taken on 6/8/14 in Milford, CT, ISO 1250, 1200mm, F8, 1/1250s. This photo was taken with a skimmer pod. I had to elevate the pod with sand to include more of the chicks legs. Two distracting pebbles were taken out of the image. This is my first post. Comments and critiques welcome!

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[Randy Stout]

John:

Congrats on your first post! You will find BPN a great place to learn and grow as a nature photographer.

Your low angle gives a very intimate look into this scene. Good choice on raising the skimmer to allow the feet to show. Sharp and well exposed on the prey/head.

I might consider a slight crop from the right to reduce the centering of the subject a bit.

I also might try some subtle contrast enhancement on the bird itself to help him pop a bit from the similarly colored background. I realize he is very fuzzy, and won't be truly distinct from the background, but I would still try it.

Please be sure to post the image at the 1200x900 limit, it shows it off better and allows for a better critique.

What camera and lens was used? That also helps us understand the creation of the image.

Welcome to BPN, and look forward to more.

Cheers

Randy

[Randy Stout]

John:

A quick look at your image, with a few of the changes I suggested. Recropped and increased the contrast on the subject selectively. The image was so small, that it didn't response gracefully to the changes, but I think it shows my ideas.

Even if you leave it very small in the frame, to emphasize how small he is, I would still increase the contrast a bit.

Cheers

Randy

[John Flynn]

Thank you for your time and critique!!! This was taken with a 1dx with a 2x teleconverter and a 600 f4 IS II. I made the changes and increased the size of the post. Better now?
John

[Randy Stout]

John:

To me it is significantly better in your repost than the original. Again, cropping can be very subjective, depends on a lot of factors, including the story you are trying to tell, but the increased contrast on the bird def. helps.

I do like the cropping on the repost as well, just suggesting that cropping tends to be a bit more subjective than some of the other things we look at.

Be sure to comment on other folks images, it is a great lay to train your eye, as it makes you really think about what you like or don't like in an image.

Cheers

Randy

[Daniel Cadieux]

Hi John...a belated welcome to BPN, and glad to see you post!! I cannot see your original post to compare with the tweaks, but I really like what I am seeing with the low angle and neat prey item. Maybe just a tiny bit of CCW rotation, but really not much needed. Hope to see more from you!

[shane shacaluga]

Welcome to BPN

Lovely image and good detail within the focal plane especially at 1200mm

I agree with the slight rotation required and maybe would have stopped down a bit more to get the legs also in focus

Nicely done

thanks for sharing