Black Turnstone

[Aidan Briggs]

There were a few of these guys inter-mixed with about two dozen surfbirds at Morro Bay today. This guy is pretty far into his spring molt to breeding plumage.

50D, 100-400 at 400
1/640, f/8, ISO 320
69% of full frame

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the angle, details and BG. It would have been great if he had moved the head a little toward you and if the legs were visible.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

I love the alert pose and almost perfect HA.

Glad to see that you know it is 69% of original. Some insignificant person gave me a lot of grief over my precision at times with crop amounts.

Just curiously, do you crop the master file first before resizing and then compare the area (in pixels) to the area of the original? That is how I would do it, is why I am asking. Wonder if we agree or your method is different, yet works the same. :)

[Ramon M. Casares]

I only miss the legs a bit, but I love the pose, light, detail, exposure, BG and comp. Congratulations!

[Aidan Briggs]

Thanks for the comments everyone. I have another shot that shows the legs a bit better, that I will post soon.

Akos, Yes I use the same method (cropping master file then comparing the pixel ratio)