Taken on September 23rd. Every individual bird has a certain "comfort zone" (amount of space between you and it) that it tolerates and when you breech that they either fly away or move back. When you find one that simply backs away you can sometimes get them to move at a certain spot...which I did here.
There was a half-sumbmerged log floating in the water 20 or so feet behind it, and every few minutes I'd carefully move forward one step - with the plover moving back the equivalent distance. As it got closer and closer to the log and got "cornered" by it I could only cross my fingers that it would hop on. Another step towards it, and voilą...plover on a perch!:) As an added bonus it was very windy...thus blowing small waves onto the log. I took many "regular" images, but timed many more with the oncoming waves splashing around it.
As a self-critique point, I'm not really fond of the "peek-a-boo" far eye and would have rathered either more, or less, of a head angle.
Canon 40D + 100-400L @285mm, manual exposure, evaluative metering (+1.7 stops, metered off water and hostogram checked), 1/640s., f/7.1, ISO 800, natural light, handheld, slight crop right and top, lightened the darker OOF arched wavelet above the head via dodge tool.
Congratulations, Daniel on your success at training a plover! Good thinking on your part, you saw an opportunity and went for it. Everything works in the photo (I am with you on the eye contact), the log colors complements the bird so well. And of course the splashes are the icing on the cake.
Well planned and executed indeed, Daniel. The bird is sharp and well exposed, and beautifully framed by the arched wavelet, log and water drops. I agree about the eye, but still a lovely image.
Real nice job on this one. The environment is awesome. Guess you can't get that perfect head angle every time... The foot position along with the water gives a nice sense of movement. Great job!
Well thought out and executed Daniel. Love the perspective and the water splashes around the plover. It pays to think and capitalize on an opportunity, which you perfectly carried out then shared. :)
Dan ..with the weather we've been getting, I am glad you got this plover in decent light..I like the splashed up water, raised leg and sharpness....I agree about the head angle......well done
Framed by splashing water - Semipalmated Plover.
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