Large World, Small Bird

[Joseph Przybyla]

I captured this image of a Sanderling at Ft. Desoto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida, in September this year. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.

Nikon D500
Nikon 500mm F/5.6 VR AF-S ED PF, camera and lens supported by a Oben carbon fiber monopod with a Wimberly MonoGimbal head
1/3200 F/5.6 Matrix Metering EV 0 ISO 560 Auto 1 WB, image captured at 500mm (750mm 35mm Equivalent)
Image post processed in Lightroom Classic, Photoshop CC 2021 and Neat Image for noise reduction
Image cropped and canvas added for composition and presentation

[Jonathan Ashton]

Not very often we see a static Sanderling, I like the light. There is a band of sand where the grains are visible but there are some irregular areas that look smooth, most apparent below the bird and to the right of the frame (??)

[Kurt Bowman]

Nice low angle and love the placement of the bird tot he right. I'm back and forth about the amount of FG you left in the frame. I might cut a sliver off if it were mine.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Joe, I would go more pillar box ie 16x9, but still keeping the subject small in frame, perhaps RoT's on the height. I can see what Jon is referring to on both the RHS, plus LHS to me you just cloned/duplicated the area, but very noticeable. Because everything is so clean I would just Spot remove all those smaller specs in Lr. I like the colours, very simple and affective, good control of the Blacks & whites.

TFS
Steve

[Joseph Przybyla]

Thanks everyone for viewing, commenting and suggesting improvements. Here is a edit and repost reflecting those suggestions. I think the areas that needed fixing were from not using the right tool originally in Photoshop and not cleaning up after adding canvas. Thanks again...