Now where did this feather go again?

[Daniel Cadieux]

This Lesser Yellowlegs preened for what seemed an eternity, and at close range no less! With those slow shutter speeds available at that time I was not expecting much due to subject motion blur...but luckily the best pose of them all had perfect sharpness! Just shows that you never know what you can get even with such low light conditions.

Canon 40D + 100-400L @350mm, aperture priority, evaluative metering, 1/60s., f/6.3, ISO 800, +0.7 EC, natural light, handheld, slight crop from left and top for better comp (about 85% FF). Cleaned up some debris in the water.

[Randy Stout]

Daniel:

Excellent sharpness on the bill and feather, esp. considering it was handheld. Nice job there.

The soft light, water color, good head angle, all add. Even room for a nice caption to the right.:)

Cheers

Randy

[Art Kornienko]

Ditto Randy esp hand held. Love the bg and colour, sharpness is really nice, where did you catch this one?

[Daniel Cadieux]

Thanks guys!

Art, this was taken at Jack Pine Trail in the west end of the city. That area can be very productive at this time of year, especially at the ponds.

[Doug Brown]

Great pose and a beautiful BG. Like it a lot Daniel!

[Mike Milicia]

Cool pose, beautiful BG, nice detail and composition, and great head angle ... lots to like here!!!

[Arthur Morris]

Sweet as can be with perfect head and feather angles and a killer green BKGR. See today's Bulletin for some slow shutter speed (1/100 sec) bear luck!

[Arthur Morris]

At 400mm???

[Daniel Cadieux]

Thanks Doug, Mike, and Artie.

Artie, this was at 350mm.

[Mital Patel]

fabulous image Daniel, loved the expo just bang on. HA is what i die for and the details as well. more over i love that smooth backdrop created by the nice DOF

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Doug, Mike, and Artie. Artie, this was at 350mm.

Thanks Dan. Excellent hand holding techniques at 350 X 1.6.... What was your posture?

[Daniel Cadieux]

Basically the same thing as this but from the ground, which was a little higher than water level in this case. I like to keep the knuckles of my left hand (the one under the lens) firmly onjthe ground...and by opening my hand more (or closing it - and always keeping my fingers straight) I can slightly raise or lower the lens for comp. Also hard to see, but my index finger is on the push-pull part of the zoom's barrel and I can also zoom in or out a bit at the same time as this (the push-pull system is way underrated!!) Of course I can pivot my gear left and right with the other hand too. All that without my knuckles ever leaving their spot from the support of the ground. Probably a longer answer than you needed, but hopefully others can get something out of it too!:)

*Thanks to Penny Barclay for the image*

P.S. Great bear images from your bulletin!!

[Arthur Morris]

Probably a longer answer than you needed, but hopefully others can get something out of it too!:) *Thanks to Penny Barclay for the image* P.S. Great bear images from your bulletin!!

Actually, that is exactly what I was looking for and now the angle makes sense :) Thanks for your kind words on the Bulletin; others can see it here.

[Kiran Poonacha]

donely done making the bird pop well..

[Stu Bowie]

Hey Dan, the preened feather protruding from the rest, puts this over the top. Good look-back pose too, and of course the BG is a killer. Well captured.