Willet on mossy rocks

[Grace Scalzo]

I went to Jones Beach early Sunday morning to hopefully catch some migrating shorebirds in good light (as predicted). Well, the light fizzled and the shorebirds were scarce. I did find this rather plain looking bird on these beautiful moss covered rocks and decided to try and create a pleasing image by incorporating their color and texture into it. I employed Artie's refine edge tutorial techniques in selecting the bird, a great resource, easy to apply and very effective.

Thanks as always for looking and for any comments...I appreciate them all.

1/640, f5.6, ISO 640 (Manual mode, eval. metering, manual flash)
Canon 50D, 500 f 4 + 1.4tc + lowered tripod

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like this a lot, the soft light and fill flash work very well and the setting makes this one for me. Looks pretty slippery, though. :) I might be tempted to make the catchlight a bit smaller.

[Mike Lentz]

The Willit really stands out nicely from the mossy rocks. What a photogenic area for birds! Very nice, Grace!

[Stu Bowie]

Grace, great low angle, good use of flash, sharp, and love the mossy rocks.

[Octavio Campos Salles]

Nice one, I like the colors and textures of the bg.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Grace, this is beautiful! The mossy rock habitat is wonderful. I think the Willet looks far less "plain" than you make it seem :-) Well seen, and well taken advantage of.

[Lana Hays]

Grace
Oh how I really love this one. That green, mossy habitat is incredible. What a wonderful way to take a common shorebird.......and make an uncommon image. Well done.

[Ramon M. Casares]

I like it, thye BG/ambient ads to it, the comp, light, detail and colors are very nice IMO. Congratulations!

[Steve Maxson]

I like the habitat included in this image, Grace, and the way the bird stands out from it. The pose and comp are nice and you did well with the fill flash. I would agree with Axel about making the flash-generated catchlight smaller. Well done.

[Fabs Forns]

I'm in love with that BG, you could keep the bird away if you wanted :p:D

Seriously, very appealing image, congrats!

[Marina Scarr]

Hi Grace: Lana nailed it when she said you took a common bird and captured an uncommon image. The light is superb. Love the pose on the Willet too. Agree with Axel on reducing the catchlight just a bit.

[Charles Glatzer]

Grace,

Super image. And, the flash use is subtle ;)

If you want to reduce the intensity of the eye catch light... try the Blur tool set to darken mode w/ lower opacity.

Best,

Chas

[Gyorgy Szimuly]

Sometimes the non super-diffused backgrounds work really well. This is one image where showing a bit of more detail of the surrounding adds to the image. I really like it. And this lovely shorebird is in perfect plumage. What else is needed... :)

Szimi