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They look to be on a mission. Interesting that the bubbles in the lower center seem sharpest. What would you think about cropping some off the top?
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I think the bubbles are sharp because that incoming wave had just stopped. To me, this gave an added feel of motion to the birds, they never stop! I did struggle with a crop, which is only about 10%, because of cutting birds in half. I might try revisiting and see if I can do some cloning and I do think a little off the top would help. I might be able to take out the bird on the right and change the crop slightly. Like I said, I remember no purpose in the f/18, except I was very close laying in the rocks waiting for the birds to come to me and maybe I thought I needed more DOF. What effect do you suppose the f/18 had on this exposure Diane?
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At f/18 (even above f/11) you will be getting into diffraction, which will cause some loss of sharpness. And it will cost you image quality in going to a higher ISO or possible motion blur from a slower SS. I'm surprised you could get the SS you did at that ISO. With the shady side of the birds, using the flash might have helped a little with some fill light.
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This is an interesting concept and well done for taking the image. I know what you mean about Sanderlings moving, they are never still! I like the fact that the birds are all facing the same way. Perhaps even a little more blurring may have emphasised your intention. I agree with Diane about taking a little off the top.
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I like the removal of the bird. Just for fun you could do the same with the one on the left that is just an eye and beak. The missing tail could come from the second bird from the right.
You might revisit the cloning, though. Looks like you've cut into the breast a little, and the filled in water is a little un-natural in that the light tone comes down so far. There are areas of darker tone to the left to clone from for the lower part of the replaced area.
When working in tight quarters like this, you can protect the bird and rock and then be freer to paint away with the clone brush. Go to Quick Mask mode (Q key or icon at bottom of Toolbar) and paint over the areas you want to protect with the Brush tool, set to black at the appropriate size. Keep the edges the same softness to match the edges of the bird and rock. Click back out of Quick Mask mode and clone away with abandon. The darkish area just right of the tallest bird's beak might be a good source, at least to start.
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I like your ideas, good time to learn stuff, with all this rain and clouds.
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I like what you are trying to achieve. I agree with David, perhaps a bit more blur to get your intent across. Nice to see you posting in OOTB. Great suggestions from Diane too.
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BPN Member
Hi, Willie, nice to see you posting in OOTB! This is an interesting (and informative) thread and I've enjoyed watching it evolve. I like the slightly soft sanderlings (especially since they are always in perpetual motion). I'd rather see a slight crop from the bottom, eliminating about 1/2 of the rocks. I hope we'll see more of your images in OOTB
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Welcome to OOTB! All good comments and techniques described above. I like that you were low for the sanderlings and caught them all facing the same way. And I like the spill of bubbles. Some techniques to try for intentional blurs would be to try settings of 1/8 or 1/15 sec and drop your ISO to 100. You can either pan with the birds and/or let the birds move past you. Since the foreground rocks are large I agree with Cheryl about cropping approx. 1/2 away. You want the focus entirely on the birds. Removing that right bird really made the composition much stronger.
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Welcome!
Cloning out the bird on the right definitely improved the image. I like the purposefulness of the birds. What do you think about making the image lighter?
Hope to see you here again.
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This has been a great thread, and the image is, too. I really like the softness, the directionality, and the froth. Although I liked the initial composition, Diane and Cheryl's suggestions about cropping made it even better. Cheryl's was probably the key for me because it made me realize that those were rocks on the bottom. I was reluctant to crop away much of the bottom because I didn't want to lose any of the froth or have it interrupt the lower edge of the image. When I did that crop and, then, brought the top down even further, it emphasized the horizontal movement of the sanderlings.
Because the sanderlings are the subject, I followed Anita's suggestion and lightened them. I also darkened the rocks. Here's how it looked after the changes.
I hope we get to see more of your images here.
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