Bar-tailed Godwit in flight

[Aditya Sridhar]

I was photographing Dunlins and Plovers in flight at my local beach when a pair of Bar-tailed Godwits whizzed past me at a very close distance. I managed to acquire focus and fired a short burst of 3-4 images, one of which turned out sharp with a decent wing position. I wish the shadows on the breast and far wing were softer, but my attempts to even out the exposure in PP rendered the bird very unnatural, so I opted to leave it as is. As always, CC and suggestions are appreciated!


Camera - Nikon D850
Focal Length - 500mm
Aperture - f/5.6
Shutter Speed - 1/4000s
ISO - 2000
Handheld
Manual, Auto ISO
Crop - 75% of full-frame

[David Roach]

Beautiful over and under wing detail. The HA and that eye are also awesome. I love it. TFS

[arash_hazeghi]

love the BG, a bit too bright and a tad washed out on my screen, the wing position isn't ideal but nice light and BG

TFS

[Mike Poole]

I agree that the bird does look a bit bright, but the shadows don't bother me - they're perfectly natural.

Mike

[John Mack]

Nice view of this godwit. Like the background and the downstroke pose.

[Aditya Sridhar]

Thanks a lot everyone! I'll have a look at the exposure and add some contrast as necessary

[Arthur Morris]

Late to the party but I love shorebirds. Yes to sharp and way too light. And the near-wing position is less than ideal -- the full downstroke is what we are hoping for.

with love, artie