Standing Tall

[Isaac Grant]

This Lesser Yellowlegs was photographed at Wolfe's Pond Park in Staten Island. Sun had almost set and these were some of the last direct light before sun went behind horizon. Bird was actively feeding and did not realize I was there. When it finally noticed me it gave me this alert posture and I guess decided I was no harm cause it and then went about feeding some more.

Canon 7dii with Canon 500 f4ii + 1.4xiii. ISO 400, F6.3, SS 1/3200, -1/3. Tripod mounted while lying in mud and lots of goose poop. Actually for these type of situations I use a stadium chair lying flat on the ground to protect my body. Then slap on the elbow and knee pads as well.

Converted in DPP 4. Auto White Balance. In PS I lightened the eye, took a bit of canvas off the bottom and added it to the top. Sharpened and applied noise reduction to background.

[John Whaley]

Awesome shot. Composition, angle, lighting, subject, eye, all of the components. If I had to suggest something it would be to try a version with just a bit less saturation.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Isaac, love your low perspective here, infact it seems that you have ended up looking slight up to the bird. Well timed to have captured his alert pose from your presence, and great that he didnt fly away. Overall well exposed and sharp, and I like the blues in the upper BG.

[Bill Dix]

Terrific alert pose, and great low POV.

[Richard Flack]

Hey Isaac, awesome perspective captured here. Love the alert pose and the low angle. Well done!

[Daniel Cadieux]

Pretty neat with the outstretched neck. Good low angle, nice colours throughout. A bit messy in lower right corner, but overall an appealing shorebird image!

[arash_hazeghi]

I like everything except for the lump of mud behind him, it's a bit too distracting IMO. I'd sharpen him a bit more, maybe smart sharpen with a small radius

TFS

[Satish Ranadive]

Excellent image. Love the pose,colours and composition.

Regards,
Satish.

[David Salem]

Nice alert pose and I like the POV in this one. I have to agree about the BG being not optimal but overall a good looking frame with a nice comp and colors. Well done

[Isaac Grant]

Thanks for the comments. I was 50/50 on the background myself but ultimately decided I liked it as something different from a normal smooth background. We have had a very dry summer in NY and this is a pond bed that has dried quite a bit. The background is a muck covered stump that is now exposed.

[Isaac Grant]

Often I struggle with these somewhat fresh juvenile birds. Their feathers are so fine that sometimes I can't tell if they are sharp enough or not. I always go to the side of don't over sharpen. Could you please tell me what smart sharpen settings you think I should use. Much appreciated. Thanks.

[David Salem]

You need more sharpening than most people might think to get a sharp looking image for good web viewing. I use smart sharpen. Some people say to stay with a .3 diameter radius size or smaller but I find that a .5 diameter at about a 100% works best on almost all my images that I post for web presentation. They are very sharp to start with, but after downsizing a lot of fine feather detail is lost. Maybe a little less, or more depending on the subject, but those are my standard settings. Obviously this is only applied to the bird and is done after the image is downsized.
It took me months of posting images, getting critiques, and reposting to really figure this out when I first started posting my images on the web. A good monitor also helps to see fine detail. Hope this helps.