Theme: Pied Oystercatcher

[Colin Driscoll]

These birds are so skillful with beak only and no hands.
With two hands and a knife I still find it tough going.
I think they know a tickle spot that makes the shellfish laugh.
1DXIII 600 f4 III 1.4x III 840mm HH
1/2000 f9 iso1600 (auto) -0.3ev
Near full frame. A bit of S&H, light sharpen.

[Randy Stout]

Colin:

Good POV, gaze, food item, strong colors.

Like the gentle waves in background.

The area at the lower left corner is a bit distracting, particularly the larger, brighter bits, and I might do a luminosity mask to lower brightness and contrast just a bit, to help reduce the eye attracting effect.

Cheers

Randy

[gail bisson]

Love your comments about the "tickle spot"!
Good foraging image. I think this needs a very slight amount of CW rotation?
I wish the stuff in LLC was not there and I would definitely reduce the brightness in that area.
Nice image,
Gail

[David Roach]

The light angle has shown some great colors in this one. I also love the clear view of the submerged rock below. TFS

[John Mack]

The low angle works well. Sure does fit the theme.

[Colin Driscoll]

Thanks for the helpful comments.
I did debate whether it needed a bit of rotation but left it as it was.
So focused on presenting the bird that I didn't even see the LL distraction.
So here it is again slightly rotated and with the rock subdued.

[Brian Sump]

Colin, I really love the bird here. The black and colors really show well on calibrated monitor.

The whites in center of the body appear bright compared with rest, but I didn't look at the color levels. Maybe it's the way the grays blend into the whites...

Unfortunately it's a shame with the rock position. I would keep it still but it just takes away a little much.