BB Plover finding breakfast

[allanrube]

I shot this about 6:30 about 10 days ago. The tide was out and this plover was searching for a meal.
D300 with 600VR + 1.4TC. 1/640 f7.1 Auto ISO 280.

[Matt Vosniak]

This is very cool Allan. The bg colors add a nice look and the worm is awesome. I may be wrong about this but does this need a sliver of CW rotation?

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Pretty cool, I like the captured moment, angle, BG and light and agree with Matt on a tiny bit CW rotation.

[Thanaboon Jearkjirm]

Excellent behavior captured, good details and sharp, the stretch worm is a vary big plus. Agree about CW rotation.

[allanrube]

It might easily just be me but why do you think it needs a bit of rotation? I ask because this is something I always have to work on and I am sure I did rotate it during pp, though I can't remember how much. Is it simply to make the ground level?

[Art Peslak]

Very cool moment captured here. Good exposure and details. I am not sure I can perceive the need to rotate this.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Man, I find myself squinting in anticipation of the worm snapping up into the plover's face!! I love the foot and angled bird showing the hard pulling action - very cool.

[Roger Williams]

Very nice lighting, detail, background, pose and action with the worm and stance. I personally don't see the need for rotation.

[Grace Scalzo]

Great capture of the tug, Allan. I often photograph on a beach that is not level and struggle with rotation. Here, if you do a browser scroll, you might conclude that a bit of cw rotation is in order, but your background looks right. I think it's ok as is. The image does appear a bit contrasty to me, and I'd eliminate a catch light in the plover's eye and sharpen his face just a bit. I like your low angle.

[Thanaboon Jearkjirm]

To me the ground is slightly tilt to the lower left which distract my attention off the subject a bit. However I did try to rotate your image by 0.5 degree CW which straighten the ground but the image result in less of the hard pulling feeling. Hmmm... I guess the pulling is the main theme here, so might as well leave it as it is.

[arash_hazeghi]

That's one wicked shot, excellent!

[David Fletcher]

Cracking shot. Love the view. No need for rotation Allan. Neat shot.

[Joerg Rockenberger]

What a shot. Beautiful lighting, sharpness, composition and action. Wish for a more uniform background. JR

[Jim Fenton]

This is a great image Allan, especially given the mechanics of the bird pulling back and the worm looking as though it's about to snap!

Whites look a tad borderline on my monitor?

As far as the rotation is concerened, it simply looks as though natural topography to me. We don't have those shallow flat beaches around here that some others have.

[allanrube]

You might be right on the whites. I work on the tiff and that was fine. After that, I resize, change to srgb, 8 bit, sharpen a tad, and then save for web. The whites got hotter somewhere in that process.

John, I like uniform backgrounds as much as anyone, but this is what is there. Part of the beauty on the mudflats is the different shades.

[Gerald Kelberg]

Spent some time Saturday evening watching a Lapwing doing exactly the same trick - I couldn't get close enough for a decent shot, so I am enjoying your image that much more. Although it looks like a fearsome tug, the action is really very subtle and gentle to ease the worm out of the ground - great to watch and enjoy. Thanks for sharing.

Gerald