Theme:Lonely sentinels--plover and pilings

[Bob Smith]

During each of the migrations black bellied plover ( a young one this I think ) love to perch on top of the Brunswick pilings. Sometimes sanderling will crowd around them but on this night this fellow stood alone. The pilings are the remains of an old salmon fishing station/cannery at the mouth of the S. arm of the Fraser R. in S. Delta, B.C. When I first started hunting waterfowl in the foreshore marshes back in 1965 the cannery building was still there and I kept my punt on the old wharf with the motor and decoys locked away in a net locker behind the cedar net-wash tanks. At first I didn't think much of this image taken in late March, but the results of playing with the light in PP blew me away, although I wish I had taken one step to my left. 5DIII, Sigma 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary, ISO 1000, f/6.3, 1/800.

[Arthur Morris]

Yes, a juvie. And a nice concept. But you needed to move one yard to your left to put the plover completely against the water. The merge of the bird's face/bill with the piling is an image killer for me. EX and SH are right on.

with love, artie

[John Mack]

Nice image don't care for the white vignetting.

[Glenn Pure]

Great work here Bob. I like what you have done. Great moodiness to the shot but I think this has been weakened by the vignette. Still a really nice frame though.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Hi Bob, I agree with the previous comments. Beautiful setting, I would go there often. Thank you for sharing.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Beautiful shot - congratulations, I do wish for the same as Artie though, it was my very first thought just move a bit to the left (probably easier said than done) I will be on the look out for more like this - great shot.

[Bob Smith]

Thanks for all the input everyone. Despite how pleased I was with this shot I've learned a lot. Don't know if it's fair game to do cropping to this extent but I couldn't resist trying. I think the original image is sufficiently blurry/OOF that if the viewer isn't looking for the changes , they are not significantly noticeable--- although I'm sure someone more talented at PP could do it much better.

[Bill Dix]

Works for me, Bob. I would go one step further and remove the white object that sticks up from the left-hand-most piling (and maybe the twig as well). Nice mood. Glad you got rid of the vignetting.

[Geoffrey Montagu]

Excellent light quality, Bob. Very nice post work. I too would remove the light object and the twig on far piling.

Geoffrey




http://500px.com/geoffreymontagu

[Bob Smith]

Thanks again fellows. I removed the white triangle but left the twig. I've been back there the last two nights trying for a repeat but no dickies showed up.

[William Dickson]

I would say. This is one of your best images. Get rid of that branch and you got something special here. Nice.

Will

[Bob Smith]

Thank you William. OK, I'm persuaded--branch gone.