American Oystercatcher with prey

[Isaac Grant]

As often happens, I will process one image from a shoot and then forget about the rest. Went back recently and found some shots that I never got to. This American Oystercatcher was photographed in April at Breezy Point in Queens, NY. Photo taken very shortly before sunset which is my favorite time of the day and favorite light to photograph in. It would wait for the waves to recede, run and catch these little crabs, eat it and then go back again. Must be so many of them there at I watched it catch them over and over again.

Canon 7d mark ii and Canon 1.4x iii. Canon 500 f4 ii and Canon 1.4x iii. F8, ISO 400, SS 1/1600. Tripod mounted while lying on the ground.

Converted in DPP 4.5. Highlights -3, shadows +1. Auto White Balance. In PS I cropped a tiny bit, applied NR to background and sharpened the bird. Lowered the saturation of the beak and added 75 points cyan in selective color to the beak as well.

[Mike Hitchen]

WoW! Them extenders are really effective - who needs a 500mm ?
Seriously, this is really shows of the bird and prey against a great background.

[William Dickson]

Very nice frame Isaac. The 'golden hour' sure brings out some great light. My fave time as well when it allows. I like the contrast on this one, where the blue BG really shows off the colours on the bird. Lovely control on both blacks and whites which shows good detail on the bird. Great POV and the prey takes it up a notch.

Nice one

Will

[Joseph Przybyla]

Oystercatchers are such unique birds. Sharp, nice colors, the crab adds interest. Nice image, Isaac... thank you for sharing.

[Michael Thompson]

wow, awesome capture, the colors, lighting and detail are great! nice position with the lifted foot. I cannot make out what the prey item is? I guess it must be a oyster?

[Bill Dix]

Beautiful light, great low POV; prey a nice bonus. It's always fun to go back and fine some gems that you missed on the first pass.

[Geoffrey Montagu]

Fine capture, Isaac. Nice sharp detail in lovely setting sunlight. Like the crab in beak and curled back feathers from what looks like a SW breeze.

Geoffrey




http://500px.com/geoffreymontagu

[arash_hazeghi]

sweet light, low angle and colors. love the little food item too. well done Issac

[Jonathan Ashton]

Isaac I l ike your processing - I see the logic and thought pattern - lovely image well done. A lovely moment well caught = glad you retrieved the file!!

[David Salem]

This is fantastic!! It's all about the light, and the light is beautiful. The quality and intensity of the light is perfect and the light angle is lined up great too.
When all of these factors line up like this, it's hard to take a bad shot. Not to take away from this beauty, just showing how important it is to try to shoot in optimal light and to get the angles right. The exposure is right on also and I like the blown feather. Very well done Isaac.

[Isaac Grant]

Thanks David. Actually that is my main objective every time I go out. To try and photograph a close bird in that beautiful light. Keep the sun at my back and have it low in the sky. I fully agree that when that is the priority that the results are better. I do a lot less photography than I probably should cause I prefer to shoot in this light. The rest of the time I just go birding and don't worry about taking pics.