Piping Plover - juvenile
Image is from recent trip earlier this month to Plum Island, Ma. in the early evening. These little characters were darting around the exposed areas of sand as the tide was lowering. They would stop abruptly and start tapping the sand at great speed with one foot, seemingly to scare up tiny sand dwelling creatures, and if successful, would eat the find. C&C welcome.
D4s, Nikon 500mm + 1.4 tc, 1/1000s, f 6.3, ISO 2000, ff @ -3 EV, Gitzo tripod, Wimberley Gimbal head.
Geoffrey
Hi Geoff, lovely soft evening light, which in turn has brought out the exposure/whites so well. I do like the hint of the water in the lows of the beach, and although Im a sucker for reflections, I feel should crop up from the bottom to eliminate it, as its not a full reflection. I dont believe it will harm the comp.
Flamingo's have this behaviour, 'scratching' with their feet below the water, and then dipping down to feed.
Geoffrey, This is a piping plover juvenile. Great bird to photograph, one of my very favs . I agree with Stu regarding the comp and even tho the flash was at -3, I could tell it was flashed the moment that I opened the image. I would make the catchlight more diffuse to reduce this effect. A lower angle would have made this more intimate. Feeding behavior is nice.
Originally Posted by Stu Bowie
Hi Geoff, lovely soft evening light, which in turn has brought out the exposure/whites so well. I do like the hint of the water in the lows of the beach, and although Im a sucker for reflections, I feel should crop up from the bottom to eliminate it, as its not a full reflection. I dont believe it will harm the comp.
Flamingo's have this behaviour, 'scratching' with their feet below the water, and then dipping down to feed.
Thanks Stu. First, Grace is correct. This is a Piping Plover juvenile. I had been editing a Semipalmated Sandpiper and inadvertently switched titles. Would you please correct the title.
Thanks in advance.
Geoffrey
Thanks very much for pointing out my titling error. Good idea to tone down the catch light.
Geoffrey
Title sorted.
Cropped the reflection out and took a bit off top. Also diminished the catchlight and lowered the intensity of the highlights on the beak.
Geoffrey
Last edited by Geoffrey Montagu; 08-31-2015 at 05:03 PM.
Beautifully lit wader shot. (Lapwings "paddle" all day long !
Good stuff
John
Great observation of their feeding behavior and an excellent image of it.
Cute little fella here! They behave the exact same way as the semipalms too with their foot shaking. Using your OP I think cropping to just above the tail reflection, leaving the leg and a small part of the belly, would really work well IMO. I love the darker grey sand against the bright plumage of this little guy.
A low POV and a touch more ideal HA would have been just perfect IMHO.
Very nicely done still.
TFS
Thanks Everyone.
Geoffrey
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