Here's another recent one from SF Bay. It was NASTY down in that
mud but was totally worth it! Yeah, it'd be nice to have a bit more
space to the left, but he was running fast and swinging the 500
with my elbows in the sticky mud was tough!
Canon 500mm f/4 IS + 1.4x III on EOS 5D Mark IV
1/3200 at f/5.6, ISO 640
Processed in Lightroom with standard sliders
Well this is a fantastic looking Image with beautiful light and great colors and details. I like the foot up Pose with the mud balls falling. If you're not oppose to cloning, I like to clean up the catchlight, if they are a bit oblong, to give the Image just a little bit more clarity to the eye. Well done
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Hi Dorian. Welcome and thanks a ton for your membership support. The image is sharp and the exposure is perfect. And the mud droplets are spectacular. There are two problems:
1- the bird's bill is angled slightly away from us.
2- the dark band though the horizontal center of the frame is distracting. Only way for you to have eliminated it would have been to sit rather than lie in the mud or did a very deep hole to get lower :(
with love, arite
ps: yes, the sweet light is great too.
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Great shot Dorian. Looks like beautiful light and the calm water, mud on the foot and droplets add to the image. Artie's head angle is too subtle for me here and does not detract from it imo.
Last edited by John Whaley; 03-07-2018 at 09:33 AM.
I love this species. It is so funny how out west they are just everywhere but the east coast is so different. Have not had even a single bird that stuck and provided good photographic opportunities in the last few years around NYC. You have beautiful light and nice details. Flying muds is great. Adding canvas is super easy to do in PS if you are OK with that kind of thing. I'd be happy to explain how. I think that the mid tones on your bird are a little thin. I would go to levels and lower the gray point a few points to say 95 and see if that helps. You could also go to SELECTIVE COLOR and up the blacks in the neutrals and blacks by maybe 1 or 2 points to bring out more of the deep tones that this bird should have in that beautiful warm light. I too wish for a couple more degree head turn but this is still very nice. I also see what Artie is saying re the dark band as it is a bit distracting. Not sure if it is possible where you were shooting but one thing I try and do with shorebirds is find the spot that will have the best available background and wait there for the birds to come to me. On my phone the image looks perfectly sharp, on the 5k it looks like the head could use a touch more sharpening but that will likely vary depending on what monitor people view the image on. Hope I don't sound too negative as I really like the image, but am just trying to help point out a few things that I think could make this fine image even better.
Another ultra low angle shorebird image that makes me antsy for this fall. I too love the mud drops, and the sweet light. A 2 degree more head turn towards us would have been ideal. The dark band does not bother me as much as it could. Great colours and details.
Thanks for all the kinds words and helpful suggestions. The dark band was actually by design. I have so many images
with perfectly clean and uniform backgrounds that I saw this opportunity for something different and took it. I agree that
a bit more subject interaction would idea (i.e. head turn), but that's life, right? Cheers!
Hi Dorian, sweet, sweet light, great IQ, and what a great low perspective. Well timed to capture the raised foot, and I like the trailing droplets. Well captured.