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Thread: European Golden Plover

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    Lifetime Member gail bisson's Avatar
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    Default European Golden Plover

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    Iceland 2016 at ~11:00PM at night.Light is magical at this time of day when the sun is shining.
    Canon 1Dx
    600mm and 1.4x
    ISO 640
    SS 1/1250/f 6.3
    Crop to ~75% FF. Cloned out 1 stray grass under/touching tail.
    Comments and critiques always appreciated and learned from with thanks,
    Gail
    PS-Dang...the whites look hot on forehead but I swear they are perfect on the TIFF and full size JPEG. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to avoid this issue?

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    Strong image, Gail. Very cooperative bird to climb to the top of the grass mound. Your usual excellent techs, a background to die for. Thank you for sharing.
    Joe Przybyla

    "Sometimes I do get to places just as God is ready to have somebody click the shutter"... Ansel Adams

    www.amazinglight.smugmug.com

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    Man that is just about perfect Gail. The calling pose, the grass, the light, that background, the top of the hill. I mean just crazy good. And of a species that I would very much like to see. A couple have been going up and down the east coast the last 2 years and I have spent many hours scouring fields for one of these beauties. The only thing I could think that could make it better was it the bird was facing sideways a bit more so we could see more of that beautiful golden plumage. And what a treat to be able to shoot Golden Plovers at 11:00 PM!!!

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    Golden good Gail! I like how the grass is in focus and didn't obscure the plover. Calling pose and wee little tongue is a bonus. I agree with Isaac , a wish for more golden plover sideways; theres always next time. The light illuminating the gold is sweet and the BG just wonderful. well done indeed.

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    Lifetime Member gail bisson's Avatar
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    Isaac and Ann,
    Here is one with the body more parallel to the sensor but I am not happy with the head angle!

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    So typical. Shows just hard difficult it is to get that perfect shot. Anyway, I would be crazy psyched just to see on of these, let alone get a photo near midnight.

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    Quote Originally Posted by gail bisson View Post
    Isaac and Ann,
    Here is one with the body more parallel to the sensor but I am not happy with the head angle!
    This is lovely as well Gail, I see how your preference is more dynamic, the plover looking your way and drawing you in to the image. they both are wonderful!

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    Macro and Flora Moderator Jonathan Ashton's Avatar
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    Lovely shot Gail regards the whites, place the dropper on them when in ACR/DPP od Photoshop and determine the RGB values probably somewhere around 235 - 240 max is good. I don't know what a perfect value would be, it boils down to personal preference and if you subsequently apply luminosity masks etc. If you do use luminosity masks I would suggest lifting the darkest plumage a little bit. Often the raw conversion (if using DPP) is good if you set the contrast to -1, frequently this sorts out the darks and lights at initial conversion.

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    Gail it's good to have self critique and look for perfection but I personally would thrilled to bits with either of these images, but the first is the top one for me,pose,bg,and the bird itself looks lovely .

    Keith.

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    BPN Member Bill Dix's Avatar
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    How nice of him to pose, and call, from a grassy mound with such a gorgeous BG. And light. Both are lovely images. (Now I hesitate to post mine which is much more cluttered.) I don't really mind the whites but they are a tad hot in the jpeg. If you keep them at 235 or below in the TIFF they usually convert to jpeg within range, as I'm sure you know. Sometimes the conversion just doesn't cooperate. I've also used Jonathan's suggestion of a -1 contrast (in Capture NX-2 conversion), which often removes the blinkies from the RAW image.

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    Lifetime Member Stu Bowie's Avatar
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    Hi Gail, thats just insane photographing at 11.00pm. Tack sharp, and I like the angle you captured, and not to mention the timing to capture the open beak with the visible tongue. Good DOF throughout to show up the grasses, and thats a killer BG. ( Nearly as nice as my Pilanesburg BG's. )

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    BPN Member William Dickson's Avatar
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    Beautiful bird nicely shown here with the FG and BG colours blending real well. Lovely details throughout.

    Will

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    This is just stunningly gorgeous Gail. Techs are great, bird is great, habitat is errr great :-) and the call takes it over the top. Whites look fine on my monitor. I'd love to get our Pacific Golden's on an grass hummock such as this but they are mostly on mud/sand and occasionally samphire...congrats on a real beauty!

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    Lifetime Member David Salem's Avatar
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    Very nice Gail. Love the calling pose, colors and details. The perch and the BG put this over the top. Well done
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