This Marbled Godwit was photographed yesterday morning November 28th in Dunedin, FL using the 7Dii and 100-400mm ii. The godwit was in a group with 5 others, a few willet, sanderlings, and semipalmated plovers. I was on my belly and was able to get pretty close over the course of about 30 minutes. I was lucky enough to get a lot of frames of "keepers" to work on in the future. I almost tossed this one out as it was framed way too close on top, but ultimately I decided to see if I could make it work and learn some more in the process. Below are short rundowns of settings and my post processing:
ISO 200
AV /5.6
TV 1/2000
Focal Length 400mm
Manual Exposure / Servo / AF Point Expansion / Back Button Focus
Processed in DPP4 and PScc
1) added canvas to the top and cropped about 10% off the bottom to lower the subject in the frame
2) added a bit of contrast mask and Nik DE
3) sharpened after resizing
Thanks for taking the time to look. As always, comments are appreciated.
Super cool pose. I so rarely have Godwits that stick in NY. I'm lucky to see one in a year let alone photograph them. I like the pose. Very nice job adding canvas. If you are close to the bird I think you should have upped the ISO and then upped your fataop. Shooting at something like ISO 640 and f8 would've allowed for more Delong of field. As presented all looks sharp except the face. Was focus on the face or the underwing? Face looks good but not perfect. The water droplets add to the feeling of motion.
Isaac, the focus point was on the breast just below the neck. I had the focus point just above center and a bit to the right as the bird was dipping its bill into the water, preening, and moving slowly away from the others. Honestly, I wasn't ready for the take off and this frame was a result of just pressing the button when the action started. Thanks for the nod on the canvas. What do you mean by upping the fataop? Thank you for taking the time to comment.
Excellent composition with the added canvas, and wonderfully processed Noel... I love the water splashing forward as the MG strides into the wavelet. Lovely image, well done.
Pretty much ditto Isaac's thoughts. Love the pose and water drops composition and crop work for me, but agree the head isn't tack sharp. Nice low POV as well. TFS
Thanks Isaac, Alex, John, Kirk, and Jay for posting your thoughts. Thanks to everyone else who took a look. I'll try a little harder in the future to make sure the subject is framed better from the get go and practice keeping that focus point more on the face. As always I appreciate your time.