Displaying American Oystercatcher

[Isaac Grant]

Here is a shot of a displaying American Oystercatcher from 4/24/16. From Breezy Point in Queens, New York. Normally I try not to shoot off the sun angle but in this case the bird was angled and had a perfect sun angle, despite the shadow not being right behind it. Taken in late evening light.

Canon 7dii and Canon 500 f4 ii + 1.4x iii. ISO 500, F8, SS 1/2000. Tripod Mounted while lying in sand.

Converted in DPP 4. Auto White Balance. In PS I leveled, added some canvas, sharpened and applied noise reduction to background. Small amount of beach clean up. Added cyan in selective color to the reds to tone down the glowing beak.

[Colin Driscoll]

Good behavioral shot Isaac and IQ is excellent. Love the background. Do these birds have a double pupil?

[Isaac Grant]

Thanks. Yes they have a double pupil. I have been told that it is the females that have this but just about every oystercatcher that I have photographed has the double pupil so I don't think I have only photographed females.

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

Awesome shot. Great details on the bird and I love the display..
Well done.

[Joe Subolefsky]

Very nice I since the entire shadow is not within the frame I might be temped to remove it or round it off within the frame.

[Isaac Grant]

Thanks Joe. I thought about doing something with the shadow but decided not to because if I rounded it off then the beak would not have any shadow and I think it would be too artificial. Also considered extending the canvas even more and making a shadow but decided that it was best to leave as is. But I'd love to hear others thoughts on that.

[Frank Schauf]

Excellent shot with very nice soft background.

[Satish Ranadive]

Magnificent image with beautiful colors, Great IQ and nice low shooting angle.

Regards,
Satish.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Lovely image, Isaac. On my display the shadow appears blue (just profiled this morning). I guess I would evict it. Thank you for sharing.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Isaac, exquisite light, and well timed to get the calling pose and raised tail. Exposure is spot on, as is the sharpness, and the two tone BG is a killer.

Your OC'S are so much more colourful than ours, as ours are mainly black all over. Ours also have the red beaks and strange pupils too.

[Isaac Grant]

Thanks guys. Really no clue why the shadow shows as blue. I selected the shadow, set color match to neutral and the black and white set to default. Seemed to have removed the color cast.

[keith mitchell]

Really like the pose and the IQ is excellent,think the out of placed feather adds interest,not seen these birds but the beak and the eye colour do look a little strong on my monitor but like I say have not seen them myself only the European ones.

Keith.

[David Salem]

What a great pose you caught her in. Love the exposure, colors and details and the graduated Bg looks fantastic. Very nice capture Isaac. They don't literally have a double pupil, just more black pigment throughout the eye.
Looks like all you are getting is females as the males pupils are perfectly round.

[Teri Franzen]

Great image quality, behavior and POV. I especially love your beautiful, soft background.