American Oystercatcher

[Isaac Grant]

Photographed this American Oystercatcher while it was busy hunting for little crabs to feed its babies. I have many shots of these birds but don't have any good ones of them in the water. Typically they will wait for waves to recede and then run and grab these little soft shell crabs. This one did not time the waves well and got hit with it. You can see how wet the head and chest are. From Nickerson Beach in New York. Taken shortly before sunset which is my favorite time of the day to photograph these birds. As an aside the beach there this year is heavily trafficked and there is not a single spot, except in the roped off areas that does not have tire tracks on it or foot prints.

Canon 1dx and Canon 500 f4 ii + 1.4x iii. ISO 1600, F8, SS 1/2500.

Processed with DPP 4.6 and PS.

[Melissa Usrey]

Another bird I have never seen! I love the water droplets and the foam around his feet.

[Randy Stout]

Issac:

great shooting angle, well exposed, like the splashing water/foam.

Nice comp, and very good lighting.

Cheers

Randy

PS: sad that vehicles are allowed on the beach!

[Daniel Cadieux]

The water action around the legs is really cool. I love the wet look n the plumage too. Great light, low angle. Highly appealing.

[Geoffrey Montagu]

Wonderfull capture, Isaac. Great light adding to the richness of all the colors. Love the warmth of the setting sun reflected in the white foam of the wave, also in the distant BG. Beautiful timing capturing the water splashing up around the legs. The birds stance absolutely reflects the waves impact you described.

Geoffrey




http://http://500px.com/geoffreymontagu

[John Whaley]

It is a very pleasing image Isaac. The lighting is perfect and everything else works from there. Beautiful rich colors without being over saturated and like the low pov.

[John Mack]

The splash around the legs is pretty cool. Like the light and pose on the bird.

[Bill Dix]

Lovely light, pose. Sorry to hear about Nickerson.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Lovely image Isaac. Wonderful light, the frothy surf is a bonus, nice sharp detail on the bird. Thank you for sharing.

[Michael Thompson]

Love the lighting, surf, and water dropplets, nice image

[Arthur Morris]

Sweet bird, pose, and light but I believe that the optimization could have been a lot better because:

1-the blacks and browns look over-lightened.
2-the RED of the bill looks too much like enamel. Try adding 60-80 points of CYAN to the RED in Selective Color.
3-a bit of Eye Doctor work on pupil would likely have improved it.

As for Nickerson, it sounds like par for the course.

with love, artie

[Isaac Grant]

Thanks for commenting Arthur. Have not heard from you in a while. As to your points:

1- I did not lift the browns or blacks really at all. I converted in DPP and only upped the shadows +1, highlights -3 and did not touch the exposure at all. In PS I only did basic adjustments and didn't touch the exposure. In selective color I actually added some black to the blacks to deepen them a bit. This is pretty much what it looked like straight out of the camera with regards to the blacks and browns other than minor tweaks. I was wondering if this bird is not 100% healthy as it looked like it had a sheen to it from the wave hitting it and not like the feathers were completely water proof.

2- The red of the bill is always tricky for me. I have read your trick about adding cyan and have tried it before and did on this image as well. When I do that it always seems too cyan to me and has a deeper red look than I think it is in real life. In the end I only toned down the reds a little in hue/saturation and that is it other than in DPP I lowered the reds -3.

3- What is wrong with the pupil or what do you think needs improving? I don't see anything that I would change. Bird has 2 small catchlights and that weird extra dot that almost all oystercatchers have.

Thanks and eager to hear responses. The repost is with 70 points of Cyan added to the reds in selective color.

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Isaac, Yes, I have been busy and traveling. 1- I can only comment on what I see. The BLACKs definitely look funky. Perhaps the +1 on the Shadows was not needed. Or not. Could be that the wet head is dead :)

2-Am I nutz or does the red in Pane #12 look toned down nicely from the red in Pane #1? Ah, I see you answer. The bill looks far better and more natural to me in the re-post.

#3: I will be right back with an answer.

with love, artie

[Arthur Morris]

3- Upon closer examination the pupil simply looked washed out and not well-defined. The highlight was vague not crisp. For the (small) repost I made the pupil blacker as best as I could with a 1 pixel 99% hardness Clone Stamp Tool. I am sure that you or I could have done better with the TIFF file :)

with love, artie

[Isaac Grant]

Thanks so much. That is an easy fix for the eye. I will do that for sure. I did not touch the eye at all on my post but simple to make it darker and more defined. Not sure what to say about the blacks at the end of the day. I really think it is due to the lack of oil on the bird. Also I will defer to you re the bill. Will in future posts make sure I add the Cyan. Thanks again.

[Arthur Morris]

You are welcome Isaac. You only need to add the CYAN when the REDs look funky, i.e., too fluorescent. Works great also with the bills of Caspian Terns.

with love, artie