Greater Yellowlegs at Tigertail Beach Lagoon

[Bob Pelkey]

Cropped, sharpened, tripod used. It was completely overcast but for about 30 seconds (which ruined one shot) in the three plus hours spent in the water.

Greater Yellowlegs at Tigertail Beach Lagoon
Marco Island, Florida USA

Canon EOS-1D Mark III ,Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS USM
1/400s f/7.1 at 840.0mm iso640

Full EXIF Info
Date/Time	03-Feb-2010 09:46:47
Make	Canon
Model	Canon EOS-1D Mark III
Flash Used	No
Focal Length	840 mm
Exposure Time	1/400 sec
Aperture	f/7.1
ISO Equivalent	640
Exposure Bias	+1 1/3
White Balance
Metering Mode	matrix (5)
JPEG Quality
Exposure Program	shutter priority (2)
Focus Distance

[Sabyasachi Patra]

I like the low angle. Is this a big crop? I would have loved some more sharpness in the face. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[arash_hazeghi]

Nice low angle and walking pose, I would brighten the eye area. tails is sharp neck and back not so much due to movement, I have found that these guys rock their head pretty fast when they are moving, would stick to 1/1000sec or faster unless they are stationery. TFS

[Daniel Cadieux]

Great low angle, and spot on exposure with the +1 1/3 EC. Biggest issue is the softness of the subject, perhaps some additional sharpening would help for web presentation. There is a faint glimpse of a reflection on the top part of the eye that would work wonders if it was selectively lighten a bit.

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

All has been covered but like the action you captured in this image Bob. thanks for sharing.

[Mark Young]

G'day Bob, love the low angle in this shot. You must have been mere mm's above the water by the look of it.

[Bob Pelkey]

I attempt to upload my images to pbase at as minimal a file size as possible. In the case of the original image presented before the one enclosed here, it is just under 2KB. This possibly detracts from ideal sharpening presentation. My editing skills leave a lot to be desired which is another issue of concern to me personally. Specific enhancements to the eye as recommended are beyond my capabilities. Yes, the GYL was very mobile and in a crowded field of wading birds. I fired 74 shots in 18 minutes studying the three or four of the species in the group attempting to get the interesting shot. When I'm in the water, the tripod legs are splayed as far as I dare with water getting no closer than a couple inches from the Wimberley head unless it is spray (occurs often as the rust of the bolts attests). As I was doing some research for my blog entry on the venue, I read the mention of stingrays in the water (along the Gulf coast May-October). I'm not sure the rays would get so far "inland" at the lagoon now that Sand Dollar Island has become one with the beach. Since I don't know how to determine the percentage of crop as I've seen mentioned in some threads, I'm including the original shot.