Fast Little Peep

[denise ippolito]

I decided to do an in camera blur of some of the peeps at the beach. The low light and fast moving subjects added to the effect.
1/13 sec. at f/7.1
ISO 200

[Nancy Bell]

Denise, You captured the "essence" of peeps at the beach - always dashing somewhere with legs that blur. The soft blues and the soft tans with the streaks add to the effect of the motion. But I do have a question. I have noticed the ROT mentioned often and try to remember to apply it to my own images. The bird is certainly in the lower third of the photo, but what about the line between the sand and the water nearly dividing the photo in half? Would more sand below the peep be a positive adjustment? Or just a different way to crop the photo?

[denise ippolito]

Nancy,Thank you for your comments Nancy, much appreciated. It is really hard to compose a blur image in the field using the rule of thirds. A moving camera and moving subject make it tough. I was happy to just capture the peep in the frame w/o the shoreline intersecting w/ it's body. I could crop to adjust the bird - I am not fond of pano crops so I wouldn't do that unless it was absolutely necessary. I would normally go w/ less room on bottom and more room on top unless there is something of real interest at the bottom. The ROT is a good guideline to adhere to but it is not etched in stone. I usually follow what looks best to my eye over the ROT. That is what I did here. Hope that helps.:)

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Denise,

Greetings. The movement is great, especially the feet. I wonder about the crop a little. It seems that the peep is running downhill to me... the reflection seems to suggest about a 2 degree CW rotation is in order. Pushing the rotation further to about 5 degrees (to the blur or receding water direction as horizon) might help solve the 50% split in the image by putting the water at an angle. And/or a warp transform might be useful.

Cheers,

-Michael-

[denise ippolito]

Michael, I think it could use a slight rotation. Thanks.:)

[Judy Howle]

I like the crop other than I also think it needs a little rotation. The soft colors and amount of blur look very good.
Judy

[Christopher Miller]

Beautiful blur, Denise! I like it a lot. Perfect amount of blur and motion with a nice sharp eye to go with it. Love the soft colors and BG waves. :)

[Hilary Hann]

I don't know what peeps are, but I immediately get a feel of a busy, bright little bird. I think the blur has worked really well and the soft colours are very attractive.

[denise ippolito]

Thanks folks. I appreciate it.:)

[Kerry Perkins]

Hi Denise, cute little one and that is the essence of peeps! I like your blur and agree with comments about rotation. Hilary, peeps are little shore birds, technically I think small sandpipers but people tend to call any small shore bird a "peep". They are the cutest things and I think your description works just fine.

[Hilary Hann]

Thanks Kerry for the explanation