THE LAST COMMON SNIPE IMAGE

[gary ellwein]

D7000, Nikkor 600mm, f6.3, 1/500, iso 400, tripod, not cropped. C&C appreciated. How do I correct the typo in the title.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Gary , a nice tight portrait with good tonality and overall pleasing colors.Comp works for me .
Stopping down would have helped to get the bill fully in focus , but not much to do afterwards , next time .

TFS Andreas

[John Robinson]

Good one ! But I,m a sucker for close ups (and Snipe)
Like it.
John

[Daniel Cadieux]

I'm a fan of portraits too so this works for me. Lovely details, and perfect composition. Just wish the colours in the BG were not as blotchy.

Just as an aside, these guys are in reality "Wilson's Snipe", with "Common Snipe" being their virtually identical European cousins...but in fairness they were both "Common Snipe" up to a few years ago :-)

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Detail in those feathers is top notch! Not sure how much more you would have had to stop down to get the beak in focus, but I don't mind it much. The blotchiness of the background, I think, works well with the overall color pattern/colors of the feathers.

[gary ellwein]

Andreas, John, Daniel and Jon thanks for the look and positive comments. Daniel, thanks fore the update. This brief journey has come quite a ways from the miss identified Dowitcher.

[Ian Wilson]

Good work Gary. I am sure it's not easy getting close enough to take this kind of shot. Well done. Ian.

[Bill Dix]

Great pose and comp, and the BG works fine for me. Wonderful detail. I'm amazed you were able to get so close to him. With the D7000 you probably could have pushed the ISO up a notch or two for more DOF, but a fine capture as posted.

[gary ellwein]

Bill, I was trying to be as still as possible. Depressing the shutter button was my only conscious movement. Shortly after this image was taken, the three birds sensed something was not right. They moved to the far side of my patch of mud and shortly there after took off. I had them available for about 15 minutes. It was special.

[Arthur Morris]

Lovely and well done Gary. I am fine with the d-o-f as is. You might try this in similar situations: stop down a bit more to f/10 or f/11 and focus on the base of the bill.... With d-o-f 50/50 (at relatively long effective focal lengths) you might have covered both the eye and the bill tip.