Greater Yellowlegs

[Ann Fiske]

Cropped, burned rock, noise reduction, selective shapening.

Thanks for comment & critiques!

Camera Model: Canon EOS 20D
Focal Length: 417.0mm (35mm equivalent: 668...
Exposure Time: 0.0010 s (1/1000)
Aperture: f/9.0
ISO Equiv.: 400
Exposure Bias: 0.67
Whitebalance: Auto
50-500mm Handheld

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Hi Ann. If you are going to shoot pictures on a sunny cloudless day, which is terrible for bird photography IMHO, you need even lighting from behind you and you will be confined to a few hours after sunrise or before sunset. This bright light, unfiltered by clouds or anything else, is also called high contrast, harsh, or hard light and your camera's sensor can not record the full range of luminosity or brightness from the darkest to lightest part of an image. With the sun behind you at a low angle, it is possible to have the bird's own body block a view of this shadow, if it is on the opposite side of the light source(the sun). If it is overcast, or cloudy, in which case the light is diffuse(also called low contrast or soft light) the camera sensor can pick up the full range of luminosity and it makes correct exposure so much easier, and often you can shoot all day. This light has many advantages, and there are some birds that are virtually impossible to take good images of otherwise. regards~Bill

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Ann Good pose, like the look back and feel !! Agree with Bill on the light .. need softer and from behind you !! From the looks of this area not much chance of having the light behind you !!!

Alternative is use of flash to fill in ... if you try keep the shutter speed at around 500 to have some output good output on the flash !! I think you did the best possible form your position and PS work not bad at all !!!

[Ann Fiske]

Thanks William and Al! I understand and thank-you.

Want to let you know I posted the wrong image. The one posted was after playing with contrast.

This one is the same photo, with the same lighting problem, but before contrast... and I think is better overall.

[Fabs Forns]

The repost looks a lot better, Ann, well done!

[Lance Peters]

Hi Anne - repost is much better - doing well.
I live for overcast days ;)

[Mark Young]

I like the repost out of the 2 images. The composition is nice. Head angle and low shooting angle are also good.

[Peter Farrell]

Repost is better. A nice pose and HA.
I like to go to the water on bright sunny days, probably why my image quality suffers.
Peter

[Dave Mills]

Hi Anne, I also think the repost is better but remember light is everything in photography. Give yourself the best opportunity by shooting when the light is right.(if possible of course)

[Ann Fiske]

Thanks again everyone!
Ann