Silhouette: American Avocet

[Steve Zamek]

Taken just after sunrise in Palo Alto, CA, earlier this year.

Canon 40D | 500mm + 1.4 TC | ISO 400
Aperture priority +1 EC | f/9 | 1/800 sec

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Steve, this is excellent. Liked the shooting angle and that drop on the bill is really special. It is lit so perfectly. Crop-wise, I'd have gone pano on this one( if you have more room)....little crop from bottom and include some more ripples in front of the bird. Liking what the ripples have done to the reflection.

[Steve Zamek]

... Crop-wise, I'd have gone pano on this one( if you have more room)....little crop from bottom and include some more ripples in front of the bird ...

Thanks for those kind comments, Kaustabh. I agree with your suggestion regarding cropping. Unfortunately, there was a shadow which I had to crop out on the left side. I wish I could have included more of those ripples.

[Mark Young]

Love the colour of the bg and water. It's amazing how a tiny aspect like a single drop of water can really add to the image.

[Randy Stout]

Mark:

Yes, the drop makes this picture. The curve of the bill leading to the drop, and the backlighting, all make it much more eye catching. The curved bill almost makes you think the drop rolled down the bill and is going to plop into the water. I know that isn't what happened, but that is the impression.

Cheers

Randy

[Jim Fenton]

Love it with one exception...I would have wished to have the bird turned a hair more parallel to me as the head gives me the impression that it's just a bit turned way.

Also...have you tried increasing the saturation of the BG? I know this might well be what your eyes saw but a deeper saturation might really add to this?

[Daniel Cadieux]

Very nice Steve, a succesful silhouette image to be proud of! I'm liking Jim's suggestion about saturation...

[Myer Bornstein]

I agree very nice and ditto to above comments