The local waders are turning up in force now, however the weather has been dire for the last couple of weeks with thick grey cloud. At the first sign of some sun I grabbed the chest waders and converted frying pan and headed off to the local beach. The main target this winter is bar-tail godwit. On arrival there was a tight flockof around 3000 knot, 150 sanderling but only 5 bar-tails which were lurking on the seaward side of the knot. After a long crawl across the mud I managed to get one godwit in the clear away, although it was doing a great deal but snoozing. In the end of gave up and had some fun with the sanderling instead. The numbers of godwit should increase now but they only appear on the neap tides so I will have to wait a couple of weeks before my next attempt when hopefully they will be a bit more active.
Taken with 50D and 500mm with 1.4TC at ISO400 F7.1 +0.67EV at 1/1250s
This image has a lovely feel. The low angle and silky foreground really work.
Did you try a crop with the bird on the right looking back into the frame ?
Looking forward to meeting up as soon as the light arrives and please save me a bolt for the frying pan!!
I like this image as presented also! The subject is nice and sharp, it is beautifully lit and exposed. You managed to capture really nice color & texture in the birds plumage! I also, really like the way this bird looks set against the subtle variations in tone and color in both the oof surf in the bg, and the blue and tan colors in the oof fg!!!
You didn't mention if this was presented "full frame" or if you cropped some. If you did crop it, do you have any room to the (L) of the subject? I would like to see this with almost a complete reversal of the composition. By that I mean, with the bird placed to the (R) of the comp, looking back into the exact same amount of space on the (L) that you have on the (R) in this composition!
I'm thinking that might lend a somewhat more,.. balanced feel to the overall composition! IMO, that is!! ;) Like I said,.. it's still very nice as is!!!
Many thanks for the replies and suggestions. I did take some of the bird facing the other way in to the frame and it does look better as a compostion with the bird looking in to space. Just have to wait another 2 weeks or so now until the tide times are right for me to have another go with them.
Bar-tail Godwit
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