Good Worm Hunting - Red-necked Avocet

[Matthew Jones]

Red-necked Avocet (Recurvirostra novaehollandiae)
South coast, NSW Australia

Nikon D4 | Nikkor 500mm f/4 | 1.4x TC II | Boogie board with Jobu gimbal
1/2500 | f/8 | ISO 640 | 700mm

The first time I saw this species I knew the image I wanted to create. Six months and countless attempts later it came together with this frame and a short sequence of others. Warning to the kids at home - partial submersion required

[John Robinson]

Well worth the wait Mathew. Great BG and foreground. The water droplets on the beak end take it up a notch.
Super image of a great looking bird.
JohnR
PS Tiny bit of CCR maybe ?

[Mike Poole]

I like this one a lot Matthew, the low angle really makes this shine.

Personally I'd like to see you lose a bit of the water and replace it with an equal amount above the bird. Theres a bit of a halo around the beak and chest - could be a compression issues maybe.

The connection between bird and prey item really boosts the shot though.

Mike

[Ihtisham Kabir]

I think this photo is breathtaking, specially the bridge of water. After staring at it for a while I have two small nits. I would crop differently - maybe take off half an inch from the bottom and left. (the subject lies along the diagonal and hence has a symmetry that I would try to leverage). The other thing is that I cannot tell the object of its attention from the photo. Be that as it may, quite a stunning image. Thanks for sharing. Ihtisham

[Bill Dix]

A stunning image with sublime colors. Another vote for crop as suggested above.

[Lorant Voros]

Nice light and colors, great low angle and I love the little reflection of the body in the water. Snack is a big bonus, but even without it it is a winner image. I agree with looking into the cropping options. Well done.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Awesome pose, and I love the avocet snatching the small prey item from the water. Great low angle, rich colours, excellent BG. I agree taking a bit off the bottom, and although it does not sound like much I am sure rotating the horizon by half a degree would be good. Excellent stuff, hope to see some more! Oh, and I can related to the partial submersion part...all part of the fun!

[keith mitchell]

Agree with the above a really stunning image and well worth the effort you put in.

Keith.

[Marina Scarr]

Quite a stunning image you have here with sublime light. Glad you have a catch light. Love seeing the food and the water droplet. The two-tone BG is killer.

[steve torna]

Hi Matthew, I like it as well; I appreciate the saturated colors and the killer pastel. steve

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Matthew, I like the overall light and IQ in this, and well timed to capture the feeding moment. Lovely low angle, colours look spot on, and another vote for taking some space off the bottom, and adding to the top.

[William Dickson]

This is stunning. I love the colours and detail and the pose looks real good. Very nice POV. Well done Matthew.

Will

[Matthew Jones]

Thanks to all who looked and especially those who took the time to critique. I have added a re-post with slightly different cropping perspective in line with the comments i.e more above, less below, given it a minor twist (0.2 degree CCR) and changed the colour profiles from sRGB (original) to Adobe RGB (1988) for a more natural representation. In my view an improvement on the original (its also easier to see the worm with the tighter crop ).

[Daniel Cadieux]

Awesome repost, thanks for showing us your tweaked image!

[arash_hazeghi]

this is an excellent frame by all counts, love the low angle, smooth BG the water drop and the sharp details. all came together

well done