Phalarope splash down

[Sharif Uddin]

Hi everyone. I took this picture in late spring last year at Salton sink in Southern CA. A large number of phalaropes were foraging close to the shore in early morning when I shot this.

This is a relatively large crop. I removed the reflection of another bird at the top of the frame. I chose to leave the bug on the right since that's what the phalarope is coming for!
Raw conversion with C1 pro 2021, then processed in PS CC. Noise reduction and sharpening with Topaz AI.


D850 500mm PF
1/4000s f/6.3 ISO 800
Handheld

[Brian Sump]

Hi Sharif, pretty cool action you captured.

I love the clean look at the head and beak and the effect of the splitting wake on both sides. The wings up with such nice feather detail adds a bunch.

Coincidental to get the mosquito in the far right. It's so obscure here, I might consider cloning it out along with the two brown spots to the left of the mosquito.

If you wanted, you could play around with the warmth on the water by masking the subject and see if you could bring out any blues. Might enhance the frame slightly.

Nice to have you, look forward to more!

[Sharif Uddin]

Thank you, Brian. I will try the masking technique you suggested.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Sharif ... perfect landing splash !!
Can only echo Brian's thoughts here in general , but would exclude his thinking of cloning things out .
I would be happy to have his one in my collection ...

Keep your nice work popping up more here on BPN

TFS Andreas