I like the overall feel of this. I'd suggest cropping part way down the blue band to avoid the brightest part at the top, while still keeping some of the blue. It is a little awkward to my eyes with the disappearing feet...
Greg
Normally, I would miss the feet, but I like the dreamy feeling of no on ground in focus strip. Love the low angle SH, HA and sand on beak. Totally agree much stronger cropped from the top.
I like the dreamy atmosphere and pastel colours. The bird is sharp and colours good, I don't mind the missing feet as adds to the general atmosphere of the image. Agree with a crop from the top
Thanks, everyone for the comments; much appreciated. I was going for the dreamy, ethereal feel here. There was a slight incline between me and the bird which helped to blur the foreground a bit more. Thought it was kind of neat that literally nothing is in focus except the bird.
I tightened the crop (focusing from the top down) and lightened the blacks a bit, per suggestions.
Hi Mike. Welcome and nice to see you posting. I love shorebirds and will always click on a shorebird image. You have a nice pose and perfect head angle. I like what you were going for here with the bird being the only thing in focus. I also prefer the repost with a larger crop. I have the following suggestions that I think will enhance your photo. I think the head could use a touch more selective sharpening. Try selecting the head and using smart sharpen at .3 and 50% and see what that does. Also the whole image is too dark for me. 1dx2 can take high ISO's very well so no reason to stay at ISO 800. You are about 1/2-2/3rds of a stop under exposed here so raising the ISO would have helped get you better exposure. If lifting the exposure be sure to not blow out your whites, especially on the flanks. I would also lift the shadows a touch more and also warm the image up a bit more. Since you have already done some cloning, I would remove the large dark area just to the left of the bird as it is distracting.
Ditto pretty much everything above, the GOODs and the BADs. Overall I love it for the dreamy look and the muted o-o-f rocks. The repost is better but it could still go lighter for sure. I have a suspicion that the brightest WHITEs are nowhere near 240 or even 230 ...
with love, artie
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I love the feel. I'm OK with the original crop. I'm also OK with the hidden feet as the FG covering them is dreamy enough to make it look good. I agree with the image being a bit dark. Alternatively to raising the ISO, you had more than enough SS to lower it instead.
Thanks, all for these comprehensive comments. I took another stab at it:
-increased exposure 0.6 stops
-increased selective sharpening near face (much more detail in raw file)
-lightened the OOF dark rock to left of bird (left a bit there)
-increased overall saturation just a bit
Semipalmated Plover
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