Black Turnstone Portrait

[Aidan Briggs]

The Surfbirds have moved on but there are still several Black Turnstones hanging out in Morro Bay, and luckily for me, they are very tame!

I do wish for a bit more DOF, but didn't want to sacrifice any more shutter speed while hand holding.

50D, 100-400 at 400mm
f/5.6, 1/250, ISO 400
HH, small crop

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Nice to have tame and cooperative models. I like the eye contact and sharpness. Wider DOF would have been nice but I see your point. Maybe a bit more contrast?

[Aidan Briggs]

I had a feeling someone might suggest for a contrast boost. I already added 20 points of contrast, but will try a little more.

[Stephen Stephen]

Aidan nice portrait of a bird I've yet to see. I might have wished for a bit more space on the left sided for the bird to look into.

[Ramon M. Casares]

You could have tried to not get as close for better DOF and then you could crop a bit.
I like the light and detail of the head. Congratulaitons!

[James Salywoda]

Nice head shot Aidan great detail were it counts... I just spent a long weekend up at Pismo Bch. and was surprised I didn't see any shorebirds not a one just Western Gulls, Heermann's Gulls and a ton of pigeons.:(

[Harshad Barve]

lovely eyecontact , sharpness and pose , another vote for boosting contrast
TFS

[Aidan Briggs]

Thanks all for the comments.

Ramon: that is what I did, I had to crop this to about 80% to get this version. The DOF was still shallow.

James, I know how you feel. Next time try the end of Morro Strand State Beach, just before Cayucos beach. There is a rocky area between the two that contains these turnstones all winter. I was there this weekend, and there were about two dozen turnstones, a couple oystercatchers, plus some peeps, and plovers.

[denise ippolito]

Aidan, Nice portrait and agree wider DOF would have been nice. I like the details of the head and the lighting.