These three species hang together on the North Jetty, Arcata, Ca. I wish for much more DOF, but I like the bill shape study. Tiny crop in ACR, PP'ed in ACR and CS3, NR with Noiseware and gaussian blur, sharpened with Noiseware and USM. C&C welcome.
Camera Model: NIKON D300, handheld
Shutter speed: 1/1000 sec
Aperture: 8
Exposure mode: Manual
Flash: Off
Metering mode: Multi-segment
ISO: 800
Lens: VR 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6D
Focal length: 400mm
Focal length: 600mm (in 35mm film)
AF mode: AF-C
Great comparison with the turnstone and surfbird. I really, really want to photograph a rock sandpiper. Could you give me more details about this North Jetty and where exactly it is?
Sharpness and exposure are right on. I might have originally gone for a wider crop, but with this image, I might crop it tighter to emphasize the comparison.
Thanks Aidan. Here's a map (a Microsoft Streets and Trips map, thanks Microsoft!). This is in Northern Cal.:) Be very careful at the jetty, it can be dangerous at high tide and high surfs! The walk out to the end is very slippery, flat but slippery. At high tide and/or high surf, the waves can and do go over the jetty! That said, I have walked out to the end every time over the years. Drive to the end of the road, then drive out on the dirt portion and park. I have seen the Rock Sandpipers out about 3/4 of the way to the west end of the jetty most of the time. On the day that this image was made, the surf was high and the birds were much nearer the parking area.
I think the title goes very nicely with the image, that emphasizes the 1 bird - if it were to be a picture that was titled, say, 3 Shorebirds, it wouldn't work because 2 of them are out of focus. Love the low angle and the sharpness of the main subject.
As a study of the bills of the three species, this is fine. As a photograph, it does not work for me: uneven lighting, the Surfbird is too bright and the specular highlights on the bill are distracting, and the rock as well is distracting. A crop from the bottom and some work to darken the Surfbird and love the specular highlights would improve it.
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