Three - Banded Plover Business...

[Gabriela Plesea]

Thought I'd pop in to Avian and share a special sighting, an image taken on Saturday during a drive through Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Game Reserve. One of the smaller plovers in Southern Africa, this species is known to be solitary. Those plovers feed on insects, spiders, crustaceans and molluscs as well as tiny worms. Myself and my companions found this pair on a sand bank near the river close to their freshly dug-out nest; after a short "foreplay" consisting of the male picking up bits of sand and fussing over his girl, they decided to engage in more serious business - we were fortunate to be there and capture a number of images showing their breeding behaviour.

Nikon D4
Nikon 500mm F4
F6.3
ISO 500
F6.3

Comments and critique are welcome and much appreciated.

Kind regards,

[William Dickson]

This is lovely Gabriela. I love the way all the colours of the birds and the BG blend in apart from that beautiful eye and bill, which immediately draws your attention. And, being there at that moment must have been really good. A very nice image, well done. The expressions on there wee faces, speak a thousand words

[Ian Wilson]

I agree with William - super capture. Technically spot on. I would be tempted to cheat a bit and try to shave the top off the oof foreground sand front-right in the frame. Well done! Ian.

[Peter de Hoog]

Great picture. Beautiful soft background colours and striking eyes and bills of the plover! I' ve seen them there, too (fantastic place!), but to capture two of them in action like this, is very special!

[Satish Ranadive]

Excellent image of mating pair of plover. Very nice color pallet. I like the details on birds, beautiful spectacled eyes.

Regards,
Satish.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Gabriela, great to see you out with your new toy, and get a little dirt on it, then you can relax.

I much prefer scenes like this rather than the hide, plus the location is plastered everywhere through images posted and they are instantly recognisable. Good detail & clarity and the whites look nicely retained. Can't make my mind up if it needs to go 16x9. is it the shadow cast that has made the rock that dark brown? I quite like the FG having some detail as it breaks up the clean BKG and for me adds a little interest. Like the perspective, being at eye level. I must start on the SA images too.

TFS
Steve

[John Robinson]

Very pleasing image. Ithink some of the top would balance thigs a little better.
Good one.
JohnR

[Ishmeet Sahni]

A brilliant capture, I like the image as is. The foreground blur just shows your low perspective while shooting, works for me....

[Gabriela Plesea]

Thank you all so much for being so kind to view and comment,

...this is pretty much "as it was taken" apart from the usual LR adjustments and then a small crop, curves and a bit of NR on the BG in CS6. Tried to sharpen for web before posting but my sharpening action no longer works so I used NIK (but only a tad).
I took so many images of these two (about three hundred), so plenty to choose from and from time to time I will share with you some of the courtship scenes and other moments I really enjoyed viewing, e.g.. male picking up bits of sand and throwing them around and female barely sticking her head out of the freshly dug nest to "spy" on him).

Steve, the initial crop was a 16x9, but for some reason I changed my mind...Will post another image soon with a more "pano" crop. Really looking forward to see more of your SA images, although a couple of more owl images won't hurt

Ian-I see your point, will follow your advice when I process the next image - thank you!

Kind regards,

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Gabriela, I'm now back, so if you need some help drop me a line. Wols, truck loads so they will surface, but I really do need to get on top of the SA images.

BTW, doesn't have to be pano, whatever suits the image best. Oh and I have been meaning to say, but keep forgetting, Cam boulder is £1600 so something for the next trip when we come over.

[Gabriela Plesea]

Thank you Steve, I always need some help, really appreciated, will drop you a line soon! And I am considering the Cam boulder as soon as I recover from my last purchase , whew, these XQD's are pricey

Have a great evening, I am preparing to post an "experiment" in Wildlife, you might love or hate it but I am taking my chances, I am feeling bold and daring tonight

[Karl Egressy]

Beautiful birds, nice interaction and beauty background.

[Daniel Cadieux]

It's not often we see shorebirds copulating (or close to it) in images, so this makes the image instantly special. I liek the overall earthy tones. A bit more frontal lighting would have been good to better light the subjects, but still OK as is (I realize there was no way to reposition yourself without risking spooking the birds). I'd have preferred a slightly higher vantage point to get the FG line farther from the subjects. Good exposure and details...and I am looking forward to more from the awesome encounter you had...

[Gabriela Plesea]

Thank you Daniel! More images soon...I shot the whole sequence from courtship to copulation to separation. Managed to move the car quietly to obtain images at different angles and various POV, the birds did not seem to mind the vehicle or the noise from the shutter. Could not get higher unfortunately...So glad you liked this, very grateful for your positive feedback, much appreciated!

Warmest regards,

[christopher galeski]

very nice ,love the colors of the birds,sharp with nice detail,good BG.

[David Salem]

I really like this one Gabriella. The poses and the HAs look great and I really like the overall colors. Perfect exposure and nice clear details make for an awesome frame. I like the quality of the light too. Well done

[Gabriela Plesea]

Thank you Chris, much appreciated. David - this is a great compliment, coming from you - very grateful for your time to view and comment.

Kind regards,