Greater Yellowlegs (Portrait)

[James Salywoda]

Greater Yellowlegs
Southern,California

I was happy to have the oppt. a month back to get within minimal focal length of this
species they are usually very skitttish and don't give portrait chances to often.:)
This is nearly full frame only cropped for composition. I hope you all enjoy

Nikon D300 AFS 600 F4 1.4 TC

Thanks For Looking
Jim

[Manos Papadomanolakis]

I really like the composition,pose and eye contact!

[Arthur Morris]

Very nicely done. Love the details and the BKGR. Wish for a teench more head turn in your direction. Might stand a bit more sharpening...

[Neil Losin]

Jim, this is very cool, these birds are sooo skittish in my experience, I'd love to have a chance this close! There's something odd going on in the BG, starting just below the bird's bill and continuing down to the bottom of the frame. A very regular horizontal banding pattern. I'm not sure what could cause that.

[Arthur Morris]

There's something odd going on in the BG, starting just below the bird's bill and continuing down to the bottom of the frame. A very regular horizontal banding pattern. I'm not sure what could cause that.

Well, I am forever saying that I do not have a good eye for detail... After taking a very close look at the image from many angles I am simply not seeing any HORZ banding pattern... I do see a vague halo around the bill tip when viewed at an extreme angle.

At times, I see tons of BKGR artifacts in various BPN images that previously looked fine. That has to do with something going on with my laptop...

[Tony Whitehead]

Love the detail, composition and colours. I am a fan of these tight portraits. The BG colour really complements the tones in the beak and plumage. Agree re increasing the sharpening for web presentation.

[Neil Losin]

Interesting... after Artie's most recent comment I downloaded the image and opened the local copy in PS. No bands. I open the same image in Firefox, and see distinct banding, and only in the section of BG below the bill. Weird! Also, no bands visible in Internet Explorer. Anyone have any ideas about why this could be happening?

[Arthur Morris]

No clue here. What happens on this end is that I have an image open in one window and see all sorts of artifacting then I open it in another window--all in IE--and the BKGR is fine...

[Linda Robbins]

Beautiful portrait, and no banding on my monitor. Lovely capture.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I don't see any banding, but the whole area below the bill is very smooth compared to above...but the smooth area doesn't extend to reach the bill and under the chin. I purposefully oversharpened the image in PS to exagerate the noise and you can clearly see better where the noise starts and the smoothness finishes. I also see some smudging along the neck and breast. Otherwise nice portrait...beautiful eye, and I like the fine detail in the plumage.

[James Salywoda]

I can't say I have any banding but as to marks they are Jpeg artifacts I cloned out two small blue ripples in the water line
below the birds bill that is why it is smooth.:( Anyways thanks for comments and concerns;)

Reposted Sharper for Web

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Really a stunning portrait James. Excellent exposure and such beautiful detail and eye contact. Big congrats.!!!!

[Dave Mills]

James, without being highly technical...it's a darn good shot.

[Glenn Price]

Nice clean portrait, Jim!