Black Necked Stilt Foraging

[Loi Nguyen]

I spent the day at David Salem's location tying to take some good BIF images. I thought I had a few decent ones, but they were kind of soft. Just before I packed up and went home, saw this lone Black Necked Stilt foraging nearby, so I got out of the car, tried to keep a low profile and managed not to spook it. I saw a perfect reflection, so decided to go vertical.

Not my usual style of shooting, so would like to get your feedback. Also tried converting RAW file with DPP 4.0 for the first time (finally figured out the security setting with the new MAC and enabled me to download DPP)

5D3
500f4 II +1.4X III
1/1000
f5.6
ISO-1600
HH while lying on the ground

Seems to me the image just a tad soft, but would like to hear your feedback.

thank you and Happy Holidays.

Loi

[Mike Poole]

A very nice shot Loi.

To me, the image looks just a little bit dark, not by much, just maybe a bit of subtle PP work on the darker areas of the stilt would help.

Composition wise, I like the timing with the water droplets, but in an ideal world, not having the land line going through the neck on the reflection would have been nicer. Still, I know its not always possible to get to the desired shooting angle around water.

All said and done, still a very nice shot though

Mike

[Loi Nguyen]

Hi Mike, Thank you for your comments. Agreed that the image is a touch dark, so I boosted the mid tone a little via Levels. I was trying to keep the white not so hot. Hope it will be better. Loi

[dankearl]

I like it, but I would blur the BG behind the bird a bit more.
The reflection looks great, too bad you did not have the angle to get the sky above the bird.
The bird is exposed nicely and looks good......

[Mike Poole]

I like what you've done with the RP Loi

[christopher galeski]

nice image,like the lighting on this,nice pose and details.

[WillieHall]

nice job on the repost. always nice to get catchlight on the eye of birds with dark heads, well done!

[Daniel Cadieux]

You did well overall. I'm OK with the BG on the top part of the image, but I wish the sky did not show in the reflection to create that large bright area. I would also try to eliminate the small blotch on the bill's reflection. Speaking of reflections, you got a really good one! The repost is an improvement to my eye too.

[Loi Nguyen]

You did well overall. I'm OK with the BG on the top part of the image, but I wish the sky did not show in the reflection to create that large bright area. I would also try to eliminate the small blotch on the bill's reflection. Speaking of reflections, you got a really good one! The repost is an improvement to my eye too.

Thank you Daniel. Now that you said about the reflection of the sky, I understand Dan's comment regarding wishing the sky was included in the BG. It was not possible. I was lying flat on my belly, and the water was a bit lower than the far bank, so only the far bank included in the BG.

thank you everyone. It was something to consider next time I have a good reflection.

Loi