At least I think it's a willet. Shot on St. George Island, off the FL panhandle, last week. I tried to get lower but it was very active and I needed to be able to move quickly to try to keep it close enough, so settled for basically sitting as low as I could get (shins on wet sand in a chilly breeze).
Canon 7D2, 100-400 II, 148mm, ISO 400, 1/1250 sec, f/9, HH. Very slight adjustments in LR, slight crop from bottom and right. Into PS for some slight BG cleanup and NR.
The "ideal" head angle would have been ideal but it didn't give me many shots at that, as it was very busy, so I went with the natural action and found the reflection to my liking. The handholdabiliy of that combo is very nice.
Yep, that's a Willet... and you caught him in some nice light Diane. I almost always want to have a visible catchlight in my subject, but I like that you've captured him busily feeding which is obvious from the extending ripples and bubbles in the water, nicely seen and executed. I'm also typically not much of a reflection guy, but once again I like that you've included it in your image as I think it adds some needed balance to your composition at this shooting angle. Color looks very true, and the detail is terrific. My only suggestion is that I would be tempted to clone out the entire bubbles in the upper right, or at least the bright spots. Lovely image, very well done. :-)
Diane
I'd remove the bubbles and spot in the upper right -- my eyes move there off the bird, and it does not add to the image.
Willets this time of year are pretty gray, but there is a lot of detail in the feathers in this image -- have you considered masking the bird and giving it just a little additional contrast with a curve/increase contrast and back it off to taste with the blending %? That'd be my strategy. Overall the image has a slightly blue cast (which can be seen by doing the adj layer/curve then average blur on a copy then using the dropper to copy the color into the curve. But doing this makes the image look a little duller so I'd stick with the level of blue you have....just my 2 cents.
Nicely done reflection of a very active feeder. You must have had to move many times as it cruised down the edge
Hope you had a productive trip!
Thanks guys! Don, just got home last evening (lots of shots to process!) and will give your suggestions a try. My reasoning on the bubble was that it filled some otherwise-empty space, as I didn't want to crop off too much of the ripple. But I agree the highlights definitely need to go -- will try it that way and with the whole thing removed.
Agree on the blue cast -- processed and posted from my laptop during some dead time on the road, which is always risky.
Here's a redo with Don's suggestion for a contrast curve and a touch of warmth. Didn't need to mask the curve to the bird -- let if affect the water too. Warmed it by pulling down the middle of the blue channel slightly in the Curve adjustment. Good eye on the cast, Don! I was probably trying not to have a brown bird, but the light was about half an hour before sunset and I decided it looks OK with some warm light. Willet connoisseurs may find it too brown, though?
I did get some deep knee bends in, chasing this guy, and then I decided to go after a much busier cute little thing -- I think a Sanderling....
Did have a good trip, thanks, but flying weather determined more of the itinerary than we had hoped.
Willet
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