Am Oystercatcher

[allanrube]

We are spending the month at Ft. Desoto and this is one of the first images I took - one of my very favorite birds.



D3X with 600 and 1.4 tc
1/400 f/6.3 -.7 EC and (auto) iso 100.

[Doug Brown]

Love the low angle, eye contact, light, and sharpness. Excellent exposure of both whites and blacks. I might clean up the spots in the water below the bill. On a body like the D3X, I'm not sure I would drop below ISO 200-400; it never hurts to have a bit more shutter speed or DOF, and there really isn't any noise penalty.

[Ofer Levy]

My only addition to Doug's excellent suggestions is to brighten it up a bit. Lovely.

[Markus Jais]

Doug already said it. Wonderful light, sharpness and low angle.
I think the colors of the bill and eye go great with the blue water.

Markus

[allanrube]

Repost - used levels to 1.08 - also removed a few spots under bill.

I use auto iso. I was on my knees in the surf. I had the ss and f-stop set - the rest of my attention was focused on following the walking bird. :)

[Fabs Forns]

Beautiful light and EXP control. ISO 100 is a waste of real state. You are shooting yourself in the foot in terms of s/s. Get rid of AUTO ISO

[allanrube]

I agree Fabs. The only time I try for iso 100 is landscape shooting. But, it was what it was.

BTW, it takes some getting used the the bright Florida conditions. I never bottom out at iso 100 shooting auto iso at home. :)

[Fabs Forns]

I agree Fabs. The only time I try for iso 100 is landscape shooting. But, it was what it was.

BTW, it takes some getting used the the bright Florida conditions. I never bottom out at iso 100 shooting auto iso at home. :)

Welcome to the Sunshine State :p:)

[Doug Brown]

Allan, when you repost could you please leave the original image in the first post. Add your repost as a reply in the thread. That way people can make sense out of the critiques and compare the original to the repost. Thanks!

[allanrube]

So Doug's post makes sense. I did leave my original post when I redid my image. What I forgot to do was add this image to my post - #5. I did fix this after reading Doug's post.

[Danny Laredo]

Nice looking image Allan. Lovely low angle detail and light.

[Stu Bowie]

Lovely warm colours, and I like the light. Exposure looks good on both the whites and darker plumage, and your repost does the trick. Well done.