Purple Sandpiper

[Krijn Trimbos]

One shot I am really happy with is this shot of a purple sandpiper on ice. Up till now I basically only had shots of them in winter plumage, which is beautiful, but I wanted to have a photo showing a purple with a little hint of information about the breeding habitat. Well I got what I wanted.....:o We had a beautiful stretch of ice in Longyearbyen but no subjects that would pose on it. Finally, the last night this purple sandpiper started foraging on the ice and luckily posed a bit for us as well.

I know some might not be ok with the BG, but I think it gives a feel of the ice the bird is sitting on. Some might also point out the stuff on the bill but I think it tells you a bit of what it was doing on the ice so I left it. I removed some specular OOF highlights that were too distracting for me.

Hope you like it,

Canon EOS 7D 1/800 f8
ISO 400
Canon 500mm L IS USM F4.0 + 1.4 Converter
Handheld

btw the website looks excellent!!!

[Jan Wegener]

another stunning image you brought back from Svalbard Krijn

[Fabs Forns]

Very unusual to see a photo of a bird standing in nice as this one. Nice habitat all around and goose and EXP, TFS.

[Stu Bowie]

That must be cold. Super comp and pose, and I like the perspective.