American Avocet Chick

[Kambiz Shoarinejad]

It was fun watching these chicks next to their mom...



The direction of the light relative to me and the chick was not ideal...

Nikon D5, 600mm f/4E, f/4.5, 1/2500 sec, ISO 800, handheld, processed in C1Pro and PS CC.

[Randy Stout]

Kambiz:

Cute indeed . Amazing large the legs are at this point compared to the body. Like the drop on bill , ripple, soft colors. Agree about the light angle, always a challenge. Fill flash would have been helpful if possible, just a touch to give the eye some life.

Cheers

Randy

[Moe Richard]

Excellent light and detail. Superb pose and reflection. I'm enjoying the greenery contrasting all the brown tones in the water. The water drop on the beak is a real plus. I believe it needs a little bit of a counterclockwise rotation and there is a possible cloning defect just above the tail which could be smoothed out with the healing brush. I agree about the fill flash however there's always the risk of scaring the chick.

[Kambiz Shoarinejad]

Kambiz:

Cute indeed . Amazing large the legs are at this point compared to the body. Like the drop on bill , ripple, soft colors. Agree about the light angle, always a challenge. Fill flash would have been helpful if possible, just a touch to give the eye some life.

Cheers

Randy

Thanks a lot Randy... yes, fill flash would sure have helped. Didn’t have mine with me unfortunately.

[Kambiz Shoarinejad]

Excellent light and detail. Superb pose and reflection. I'm enjoying the greenery contrasting all the brown tones in the water. The water drop on the beak is a real plus. I believe it needs a little bit of a counterclockwise rotation and there is a possible cloning defect just above the tail which could be smoothed out with the healing brush. I agree about the fill flash however there's always the risk of scaring the chick.

Thanks a lot Moe... I see your point on the slight rotation. I think I also see your point on what looks like a cloning defect. I had not done any cloning though in that area but I will try to fix it anyway.

Cheers...

[John Mack]

Nice composition. Like those little aquatic plants. The reflection is nice as well.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Yes to rotation, and I agree about light angle - but the mood ain't bad! It's just the eye missing some life. Some fill flash would have helped as per Randy. You could always add one in post but it can be tricky to make it look convincingly real, so be careful with that. The bits of vegetation are killer good.