Greater Yellowlegs in fading light

[Isaac Grant]

I spent the evening on the East Pond at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge a few night ago. I quite a few shots off of different species but my favorite of the day came much later in the evening. I stayed until after the sun had set behind the phragmites. It was a cloudless evening with just perfect light. The water still had a nice sheen to it when this yellowlegs flew in to where I was. So I removed my 1.4x, upped the exposure compensation and tried my best to get the bird in focus.

Canon 7d2 and Canon 500 f4 ii. ISO 800, F4, SS 1/2000, + 1 EV. Tripod Mounted with legs fully extended while lying in mud.

Converted in DPP 4. Auto White Balance. In PS I took some off the bottom and added it to the top. Then cropped in from the left and top a little. Used a combination of detail extractor, tonal contrast and white neutralizer on the bird. Sharpened and applied noise reduction to background.

Never took a shot like this before so am curious what others think.

[Colin Driscoll]

Overall a lovely shot, soft even light and color. DOF seems just right. I'm curious about the two spots near the bird's tail, did you have a couple of water drops on your lens? Easy enough to clone out of course.

[Isaac Grant]

Those were drops caused by the bird actively feeding and were dripping off of its bill and face. There is one to the right of the tip of the bill and 2 below and to the left. I did not want to take them out.

[Lorant Voros]

I like the mood of this image. The low shooting angle angle and the pastel color of the water and the backgoround give it a nice feel. The bird has an interesting twisted pose, but on my monitor it is a little bit dark. Maybe you could open up the mid tones or lighten the bird in some way? TFS.

[Tim Foltz]

Isaac, very nice low angle shot with nice BG, the bird seems to have a magenta cast to it, maybe a reflection?

-Tim

[Daniel Cadieux]

Spectacular image. At first I thought the pose a bit awkward but it has grown on me. My type of low angle, and the water surface and wavelets are to die for. I did see the cast Tim refers to, but it is surely a result of the sunset light, which is fine with me. Very nicely done.

[Isaac Grant]

I thought the same about the pose. I have many shots of this bird in all sorts of different poses but think this is the most interesting pose and is quite different than the normal side pose and the like. Could take some of the magenta off of the bird for sure but I think that takes some of the mood away from the image.

[annmpacheco]

Hi Isaac, I like the placement of the bird and the posse. The water and light is just wonderful, well done.

[keith mitchell]

Do think that the pose of this bird makes this image,certainly as it's eye on something,already mentioned but the light is wonderful.

Keith.

[Chuck Nolan]

Do think that the pose of this bird makes this image,certainly as it's eye on something,already mentioned but the light is wonderful.

Keith.

I would agree. If you think of the pose in terms of composition it ticks all the right boxes as far as the rule of thirds is concerned.

[Mike Poole]

I love the low POV as always, and it's a different and interesting pose. The light is lovely and the quality of the water is excellent, especially as it flows into the background.

I think the bird cold take a little more sharpening both otherwise it's a beauty.

Mike

[gail bisson]

I have always liked this pose.
In my experience they move like this when they spot something in the water to eat.
Love the ethereal feel to this image and the color palette of blues
Great POV and good IQ.
Very nice, lovely image,
Gail

[arash_hazeghi]

Very nice pose, love the delicate neck and the low angle, sharp. my only wish is that you had a bit more sunlight on him to bring out the subtle plumage details and warm tones.

TFS

[Frank Schauf]

Great pose and setting you have here.