Another lesser yellowlegs from the ever-reliable river banks in Sainte-Martine, Québec. They've almost all moved south by now, but in late August and most of September, hardly a day goes by without people and camera equipment in and around the river. I was trying to get a walking shot of one of the birds along the rocky ledge seen in the picture, when two of them suddenly started calling to/at each other, so I went to vertical and hit the shutter. A touch of canvas was added on the left hand side from another photograph to get the composition how I liked it.
5D mkIV, 500mm f/4 IS, 1.4x TC III, tripod mounted
1/1300 @ f/8, ISO 400
DPP/Photoshop
Great capture, Jake. Beautiful bird and calling pose. Nice handling the harsh light. I would take the second catch light out, and maybe remove the whitewash on the rock just under rump. Also the bright spot/highlight at base of plant.
The bird is sharp and gorgeous. The EXP is perfect as is the head angle. I even like the grass. And I love the calling pose. Iit would be easy to remove all the whitewash ...
with love, artie
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I like the calling pose and the head angle. However there are multiple items that I feel could be improved. There is not enough room on the right edge of the frame for me. I'm not a fan of the grasses that are touching the bird. I find the whole out of focus rock (including the white wash) distracting. To my eye the head is not tack sharp and I imagine that 1/1300 was not fast enough to freeze the action on a calling shorebird. Plus the colors are off as well. These birds are a deeper and warmer brown and not this pale gray, especially fresh juveniles as this bird is. Here is a link to a juvenile yellowlegs that I have previously posted to give an idea what the colors should look like.
Yellowlegs calling
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