Piping Plover sunrise

[David Kenny]

Taken a few weeks ago at sandy hook in NJ. I was debating about posting this one as there was a piece of Styrofoam floating in the background to the left of the bird I just couldn't seem to remove. This was my fourth or fifth attempt at trying to remove it in PS. I did not want to delete this one. I really liked the eye contact. Probably should of went F 8 for a little more depth of field or zoomed out but the pose only lasted 3 frames in burst. taken with the Canon 7D and the 100-400mm. Full frame. In PP I sharpened and removed the Styrofoam.

ISO 100
1/500th
daylight WB
F 5.6
400mm

Looking forward to all your critiques. Thanks.
-Dave

[Ian Cassell]

If you hadn't mentioned the styrofoam, I never would have known anything was removed. Sweet early morning light on a cute little plover. Focus is good. I might be inclined to give a bit more room all around, but I like it. You might consider lightening up the beak a bit.

[David Kenny]

Thanks for the feedback Ian.

[Diane Miller]

Very nice light, but it would have been better if you had gone to a higher ISO and a smaller aperture, for more depth of field. Knowing the light is low at that time of day, ISO can be a decision made well in advance.

And don't forget to overexpose slightly above the middle exposure the camera gives you. (And higher ISO wil help here, allowing faster SS and smaller aperture.) If you have to lighten in post, you'll get noise. Darkening in post will give good quality. Just watch not to blow out whites beyond raw recovery.

[David Kenny]

Thanks Diane. I thought I had my ISO setting nailed before I laid down in the sand. I didn't anticipate the bird pausing about 6 feet from me in front of the dark background. I think after I took the shots I thought to myself oh crap he was way to close for F 5.6 and the ISO was way too low. I thought they were all going to be blurry. All lessons learned for next time.

[Diane Miller]

This is all SUCH a learning process. Everything I know I learned the hard way. And remembering it is a whole different challenge....

[Bill Dix]

Hi David. Your self-critique is spot-on. The bird is too large in the frame, so zooming out would have been good, although I know how tough it is when the subject suddenly, and briefly, appears right next to you. Good advice above. I don't know the capabilities of the various Canon bodies, but I would think you'd want to set your ISO higher than 100 as a general rule of thumb, lowering to 100 only if you have a really bright situation that can deal with it. Keeping it at, say, 400, and exposing slightly to the right as Diane suggests, may give you better results. The closer you are to the bird, the higher the f-stop you need to get him entirely in focus, especially if he's angled away from you as this one is. The light on the bird is lovely, especially with the dark BG, and the eye contact is great; I see why you like it.