Western Sandpiper

[Thomas Barbin]

Canon 7D, EF 400mm f/5.6L
1/1250 | f/5.6 | ISO 320
Panama Flats, Victoria BC

I was shooting a small group of Western sandpipers handheld while laying down. This was taken last spring, but I thought it might be useful to get some critique now that I can try to put to use this upcoming spring when the sandpipers migrate through again.

I appreciate any input!

Thanks,
Thomas

[arash_hazeghi]

love the low angle, good details and pose. sharp. I'd clone out the specular reflection on the mud and also clone out the small stump and its reflection

TFS

[Daniel Cadieux]

I love the low angle and perfect reflection. Good light and colours. I'd be OK with a bit more room below, but this is one strong shorebird image!

[Thomas Barbin]

Thanks, Arash. These are things I wouldn't have thought to do otherwise!

[Thomas Barbin]

Thanks, Daniel! I'll have to double check on Lightroom to be sure, but I think I do have some extra room below the reflection to play with.

[Isaac Grant]

Agree with all said above. Nice shorebird image. My only critique would be that I think the background and your bird is a little over saturated. Western Sandpipers in breeding plumage are not such a deep orange like this. Did you play with the reflection of the bird at all? It seems just too good to me. Too perfect without a single ripple in any of the water. That is the best reflection I have ever seen if it is natural. Also I think the shot could use a little counter clockwise rotation.

[Thomas Barbin]

Thanks Isaac. The reflection has not been altered in any way (other than noise reduction), it was just a small puddle so the water was very still. I've been going back and forth with the saturation. To me it looks too saturated as well, but when I decrease the saturation I notice very little change in the colour. I think I'll have to play with the saturation for the individual colours and see how that turns out. I'm relatively colour blind so I appreciate the comment on the saturation. Saturation and white balance I struggle with a bit, so it is always good to get input on them! The rotation is another thing I've played with a bit in this image. I think how it is now the image is level, but the sloped mud makes it look tilted. I appreciate your input!

Thomas

[Isaac Grant]

Hi Thomas. Just came back and looked at your image again after reading your comments. Decided to see if my impression of level was correct so I imported it into PS. Depending on where I checked level it was off from .6 to 1.1. I used the .6 as level as it was the least counter clockwise rotation.

Also removed the strong red/yellow cast to the image. To me this is a much better representation of what a breeding plumaged Western Sandpiper looks like in beautiful morning/evening light.

And I LOVE and I mean LOVE the reflection. So **** cool! I'll say it again. That is the best reflection I have seen!!! Such a nice image.

[Thomas Barbin]

Thanks again Isaac! If you don't mind, I'd like to use your re-edit as a template for when I find some time to re-edit the photo. I have a hard time with colours and your edit will be really helpful for me to see where I was over doing it and what needed to be toned down.

Thomas

[Isaac Grant]

Don't mind at all. I would tell you exactly what I did to remove the cast but honestly don't remember. Processed a bunch of images since then.