No room at the inn!

[gail bisson]

Piping Plover dad brooding his 3 chicks.
It is so much fun to watch the chicks shove and push to get under Dad for warmth. Last one in always gets the worst seat in the house!
Canon 1 DX3 600mm v.3 and 1.4 x.
Hand held while lying on my belly.
Taken about 15 minutes after sunrise.
ISO 1600 F 6.3 SS 1/800
Crop to 75% FF Toned down the yellow saturation slightly.
Nothing added or removed.
Comments and critiques always appreciated and learned from with thanks,
Gail
I did not sharpen the chicks in JPEG to keep things fluffy and not crispy. Look OK?

[Bill Dix]

Looks like too many legs. Lovely light, great family gathering. Good BG too. Nicely captured moment.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Gail, lovely intermit moment and great POV. Lovely detail and I like the slightly angle POV, well framed.

The two points for me is that the chick's eye is soft, 1/800 wasn't;t enough to freeze it which is surprising as the parent is super sharp as it appears to be on the same plane of focus, so is it a masking issue? Also having just a little more separation between the environment and the subjects adds just that bit more separation, but we all see things differently on that colour score I guess but I think it might be a worth exploring? The bit of wood, is unfortunate, but its part of the beach so I'm OK, but easily removed if required.

Push the ISO Gail, you have the tools and you will nail the images without question.

TFS
Steve

[Colin Driscoll]

Count the legs and divide by 2. Lovely family shot in sweet light.
Leave the wood in, but I probably would have removed the brown oof blobs in the bg

[Brian Sump]

Gail, this is sweet! The early light sets the mood and the loving interaction brings it over the top! I am envious of shorebird shooting like you all have up there...

Totally get your thoughts on keeping the young fluffy. I do think you could get away with applying sharpening, then mask that subject and gently brush it back in as desired. IMO, certainly it could benefit from selective sharpening on the eye at least. Perhaps you could also brush the sharpening off just a little around the adult's beak if desired.

Otherwise, I might also take a look at a pano crop, keeping the bottom edge as is. But would love to have this frame for myself as-is! Thank you.

[William Dickson]

Love it Gail....I like it as is....the light is wonderful and the detail on the birds relate to that.....No nits here....I may try a wee CW crop

Will

[Jay Ing]

Nice to see you on the forum, Gail. Hadn't see your work or gotten your comments and was wondering about you. As always, just lovely frame. TFS.