Black-bellied Plover too close

[Noel Heustis]

So there I am laying in the sand at Ft. Desoto, I think I have my early morning Sun angle correct, and now I'm determined to get a sharp image of a Black-bellied Plover. My strategy: get closer. But, a beautiful bird wanted to come check me out. I didn't scare him away by firing off my pirate canon like shutter on the Rebel T6. I patiently waited and within a few minutes...15 feet...10 feet...7 feet...4 feet. I had to back up a bit to get him in.

I loved the interaction with him and got some pretty nice shots, but I think the sun angle might kill this one. It's a beautiful off center sunrise (that can be seen in his eye up close along with my noodle reflected in his pupil). I admit I freak a bit when they come in so close. I'm just trying to get everything right in a shot. I have other frames of this bird that are a bit further away and contain the full bird, but I think the combination of the eye contact, the proximity to me, and what almost looks like a comfort level coming from the bird makes this one my favorite.

I didn't do much to this image. I raised the shadows a bit and lowered the highlights. I also added +5 sat, +10 vib, and +10 clarity. No cropping.

Again,
Canon Rebel T6
EF 75-300mm kit lens
Processed in LRcc

Thank you for your hard earned input,

Noel

ISO 800
SS 1/1600
ƒ 6.3

[Jonathan Ashton]

Noel what was the aperture shutter speed and ISO? I am looking at the image, I think it is well focused but it looks a little less than sharp on the bill and back of the head. This could be due to a lack of DOF because of the magnification, and or you may have chosen a shutter speed that was not quite fast enough and I don't know if you sharpened the final image? Some or all may be contributory factors.
Regards composition I would move the bird slightly to the right and add a tad more canvas left and top.

[Noel Heustis]

Noel what was the aperture shutter speed and ISO?

Johnathan,

Thank you for your reply.
ISO 800
SS 1/1600
ƒ 6.3

I originally sharpened the image in LRcc by +35 and increased the luminance by +25. I just tried increasing the sharpening up to +66 and the eye begins to look sharper, but I think the beak is user error by not having enough DOF at 6.3 (I guess this is more of a quasi-macro shot). I do not yet know how to increase the canvas, but I've seen that there are posts here that probably explain that process. I'll learn to increase the canvas today and then post the results.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Noel it doesn't always work but often does and I suspect it would in this case, when you recrop the original tick Content Aware in the dialogue at the top of your screen.

[Noel Heustis]

I found the thread in which Steve Kaluski gave a simple method to add canvas. I added a bit to the top and was much more generous on the left side. The content aware worked well on the top, but did something a little wonky with the sand dune in the lower left corner. I had no idea how to do that. I'll have to play around with it to get used to using it.

As for the composition comment, would you place the birds eye in the cross hairs of the upper right third?

Thanks again.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Its very subjective Noel I don't think your repost is far off I would personally put a tad more on top something like this, I have also added a little more smart sharpen.

[Alex Becker]

Amazing how close you got here! Jonathan has given some great guidance above and his RP is a very nice final product. Love that two toned BG and look at the eye. TFS

[Noel Heustis]

Yes, the birds at Ft. Desoto will sometimes just come right up to you when you are laying on the sand. I think that final product looks beautiful. Thanks to Johnathan for the help and thank you for the comment Alex.