Two For the Price of One

[Arthur Morris]

I was at Mecox Inlet on Long Island about two weeks ago while visiting my 87 year old surgically repaired Mom. (She is doing well after hip replacement replacement surgery.) There were very few birds at Mecox. And it was quite chilly. There were three juvie semi-plovers on a tiny sand island. In order to get to sun angle I took off my hiking boots--I had not been looking forward to getting wet (and cold) but I did not hesitate. As I stepped into the seemingly frigid water the birds flew a short distance to a tiny sand spit to my left. I approached carefully and was able to capture a few pleasing images.

Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS with the 1.4X II TC and the EOS-1D MIII. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop: 1/500 second at f/8 in Manual mode.

I used the central sensor and focused on the feet; I was worried that the eye might not be sharp but even though I was working wide open at f/8, there was enough depth of field to cover the eye. Whew.

Don't be shy; all comments welcome.

[Fernando Cerra]

Sharp, sharp, sharp ! great pose, and perfect exposure, I only wish the bird was closer to the edge of the water so you could capture a complete reflection.

[denise ippolito]

Artie, Beautiful image design and the reflection looks great to me. I love the slightly raised foot. Beautiful clean BG. Very nice details.

[Randy Stout]

Artie:

Nice techs, lovely clean image,BG.

When I first looked at it, I thought, needs a smidge more space to the right. But, because it is more of a vertical format subject because of the bird/reflection combo, perhaps this is the best. Might be interesting to see how it would look with a fraction more to the right.

Is this one you knew in .02 seconds what crop to use (per your usual) or did you ponder it?

Randy

[Bill Dix]

Sweet (double) portrait in nice soft light and lovely BG.

[Harshad Barve]

Guruji
Fabulous image with great expo , sharpness , BG & grand reflection
TFS

[Lorant Voros]

For me it is just nice to see how the pro does it and to know he also takes off his shoes, gets cold and wet for the result. I especially like the little sand spot the bird is standing on...we are used to images in the water with reflections. Sweet light, low angle, perfect exposure and composition. Nice work, Master.

[Mike Tracy]

Spot on techs as expected from you. Nicely seen. Silky smooth water lends itself to the reflection. Ideally I would like to have both feet reflected but the raised foot adds to the appeal of this image.

Not a fan of multiple catch lights but I guess thats a personal preference.

[Joe Senzatimore]

One very simple and beautiful image.

[Manos Papadomanolakis]

Killer reflection and beautiful soft/warm light!!!

[Arthur Morris]

Spot on techs as expected from you. Nicely seen. Silky smooth water lends itself to the reflection. Ideally I would like to have both feet reflected but the raised foot adds to the appeal of this image.

Not a fan of multiple catch lights but I guess thats a personal preference.

Thanks all for your kind comments. As for the double catchlights, I had that very conversation with James Shadle yesterday. We both felt that if the two catchlights were natural, in this case, one from the sun and one from the reflection of the sun, that our preference was to leave them both, but to remove any extra catchlights created from the flash. That qualifies as personal preference :)

[Mike Tracy]

Thanks all for your kind comments. As for the double catchlights, I had that very conversation with James Shadle yesterday. We both felt that if the two catchlights were natural, in this case, one from the sun and one from the reflection of the sun, that our preference was to leave them both, but to remove any extra catchlights created from the flash. That qualifies as personal preference :)

FWIW I will agree with that line of thought.

[Chris Kotze]

Excellent pose and detail. The reflection is as sharp as the image

[Gerrie van Vuuren]

Lovely image! Pin sharp on both bird & reflection. Well done!

[Ramon M. Casares]

Lovely light, pose, HA, comp, colors, detail and exposure. Congratulations!

[Arthur Morris]

Sharp, sharp, sharp ! great pose, and perfect exposure, I only wish the bird was closer to the edge of the water so you could capture a complete reflection.

Thanks Fernando, I want to agree but that would create a merge between the bird's belly and the far shoreline....

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Randy,

re:

Nice techs, lovely clean image,BG.

Thanks.

When I first looked at it, I thought, needs a smidge more space to the right.

As you will see below, I do not disagree....

But, because it is more of a vertical format subject because of the bird/reflection combo, perhaps this is the best. Might be interesting to see how it would look with a fraction more to the right.

Agree. As is commonplace, I was so excited as I approached this bird that I did not think clearly. In addition, the three little guys were pretty much the only birds around so I did not want to scare them. Anyway, I should have switched to One-Shot AF or used focus lock, focused on the eye, and recomposed but I did not. But I didn't. As you can see from the original posted here, the bird was indeed too far forward in the frame.

Is this one you knew in .02 seconds what crop to use (per your usual) or did you ponder it?

.01 seconds was more like it. :)

As you can see, I cropped from the left, top, and bottom and did a bit of clean-up to the BKGR.

[Simon Bennett]

Wonderful reflection, pose and setting, especially the scrupulously clean foreground and background, love that pale blue too. Could be my monitor, but I'd be tempted to try and coax a bit more detail from the white of the flanks and throat of the real bird.

[Paul Randall]

I agree about seeing a bit of heat in the whites. However the whites in the reflection look absolutely spot on.
Fantastic image overall, can't walk past a reflection like this!!

[Stu Bowie]

The still water has produced a perfect reflection. I like the light and exposure, and I would leave the comp as is. Well captured Artie.

[Arthur Morris]

I agree about seeing a bit of heat in the whites. However the whites in the reflection look absolutely spot on. Fantastic image overall, can't walk past a reflection like this!!

The whites in the image in Pane 1 look fine from here on a calibrated monitor with the calibration strip looking perfect (and the histogram shows no clipping as well). The whites in a reflection will always looked toned down as compared to the white on the subject.

That said, the handling and look of the whites is delicately subjective. I always want to keep the whites looking white rather than graying them out. My recollection is that I ran a Linear Burn on the brightest whites and wound up reducing it to something well less than 10% opacity.

[Morkel Erasmus]

I'm a sucker for these reflection shots. Love it Artie! Pin sharp and masterfully exposed as usual...whites look natural to me.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Excellent and inspiring bit of work Artie! No comments from me other than thanks for sharing. :)

[Paul Randall]

Arthur, I agree about the handling of whites being a very subjective thing. Must admit that my screen has not been calibrated for a while so I probably should not comment on such things and of course histograms don't lie.
Always hard to tell with the eye when dealing with computer screens as they are backlit and can blow the whites for you visually (even on a well calibrated moniter)

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Again Paul,

re:

I agree about the handling of whites being a very subjective thing. Must admit that my screen has not been calibrated for a while so I probably should not comment on such things

That is both correct and an understatement....

and of course histograms don't lie.

Even with no clipping evident many bright whites need to be toned down.

Always hard to tell with the eye when dealing with computer screens as they are backlit and can blow the whites for you visually (even on a well calibrated monitor).

I am not quite sure that I would agree with that.

Respectfully.

[Fernando Cerra]

Thanks Fernando, I want to agree but that would create a merge between the bird's belly and the far shoreline....

That is true Artie, thanks for pointing that out.

[Doug Brown]

I like the image as presented Artie. Great pose and eye contact. I like how the bird has symmetry but the sand is the only asymmetric element in the image. The whites look great.

[Krijn Trimbos]

The original crop is perfect IMO Artie! Love the reflection, leg position and HA/BA (body angle). I would take this in a heartbeat!! Still maybe the only thing that is slightly distracting is the border between the mud and water intersecting with the birds ankles, getting lower would have probably gotten rid of that, also it would have maybe enhanced the relfection. Again not really a big problem for me, I would love to have this in my files.

Cheers,

Krijn

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Krijn, In general getting lower weakens a reflection considerably....

[Krijn Trimbos]

Hi Artie,

Point taken, choosing between angle and reflection is always a hassle.
However in my experience (which isn't long compared to yours...) this (the lower the angle the weaker the reflection) applies mostly when water is isn't completely still, with such calm water I don't believe it would have made a huge impact on the sharpness/details of the reflection, while having the possiblity of showing the whole legs maybe.

Absolutely no dealbreaker though, I would be more than thrilled with this!

Respectfully,

Krijn

[Arthur Morris]

Krijn, You might be right. I will have to experiment. On that day, I was not gonna lay in the water....