Oystercatcher

[Scott Frye]

American Oystercatcher at Dunedin Causeway, Florida

1/640 at f10 and ISO200
Canon 500mm plus 1.4 TC
Canon 7D

[Troy Lim]

Scott,

Such a graceful pose. Great moment captured.
I would take a bit off the top? Or maybe too tight on the bottom that makes it feel less balanced?

[Arthur Morris]

An interesting and somewhat elegant pose. There is a white spot above and behind the tail that could go. The blue could be toned down a bit for my tastes. EXP good with detail in the BLACKS & WHITES.

At any point did you select the BKGR?

[Scott Frye]

Using Elements -- I used magic lasso to draw around the bird -- inverse to select the background -- used Noisemaker to smooth out the background

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Scott. I figured that that was the case as parts of the bird, especially the chin and the neck, look cut out. You can try refining your edges after making the selection or using Denise's painting in the effect method while working large.

[Chantelle Voss]

Nice oystercatcher! Never saw a photograph of one in this pose, very interesting! I wonder if this is some type of display; were there other oystercatchers located nearby? Thanks for the great photograph!

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Chantelle, The bird is preening the feathers on the back of its neck.

[Alan Murphy]

Sweet pose and BG. Wish for more space at the bottom and an open eye.

[Joerg Rockenberger]

Great pose, exposure and sharpness. Agree though with Artie that it looks a bit too 3D in parts. Also, I wouldn't expect from the head angle that the end of the beak gets OOF. I actually like that the eye is almost closed but with just a sliver showing.

JR

[Per-Gunnar Ostby]

The pose and the eye do it for me

[Paul Randall]

Interesting pose, great colours and well exposed. My preference would be for more of the sand at frame bottom to ground the image a little.

[Stu Bowie]

Good exposure, and its always good to see a different pose. Comp works for me too.

[James Salywoda]

Beautiful Pose! Very nicely captured Scott I doo wish you had more room all around.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Neat pose, and I agree with most of what has been said (I don't mind the half-closed eye for this behaviour pose). I would also remove the smallish OOF line directly behind the bend of the leg. I'm surprised you needed to smooth out the BG with Noiseworks at ISO 200...was it that bad?