Captured at Estero Llano Grande, s. Texas, last month. I liked the pose here, and what I thought was prey. It now appears to be a bit of bark, which he relinquished in subsequent frames. I was going to remove the OOF drake Northern Shoveler, but in the end I decided to leave him in, thinking he added a bit of je ne sais quoi. What do you think?
D500, 500f4 + 1.4 TC, ISO 800, 1/2000s @ f/6.3 manual. Fill @ -1.0. Minor crop off right and bottom for comp.
This is really cool Bill. I think the perch and the walking pose really add a bunch of interest to a typical wader in water type shot. Your head angle is perfect and the little bit of bark is great as well. I think the whole image is a bit dark. I also think the whites on the bird are a bit gray. I would lose the duck for sure.
Thanks guys. Here's a version without the duck. I know someone will say I should have removed all traces of his wake, but I wanted to leave some texture in the water to give some depth. Lets just say he swam out of the frame. As to the whites, I've used Curves to raise the mid-whites without wanting to raise the level of those on the top-lit back which were already in the low 230s. I think this helps. I don't think the entire image is too dark - it was that kind of day.
Hi Bill, I like the pose with the raised foot, and great that you managed this with a food item in his bill. Great cloning work to erase the Shoveller.