Sony A850~Sony 70-400G@400mm~ISO 1250~F8~1/1000sec~HH~10-10-2010~6:45 PM~Quintana, Texas~CS5
Although some like that "golden glow" that occurs close to sunset, I don't unless there are clear references in the image to why there is the red shift in the first place, like a setting sun or elongated shadows. Anyway, I tried shifting the color back to a more normal color, and noticed negative effects on image sharpness. I also noticed, when I got home, that one of the red knots has a tag with 8JN on it, and wondered what this indicates. Comments and critique welcomed. regards~Bill
I like the pano crop and layout Bill. And the light is really nice. I agree totally with your comment about light warmth having to fit with other clues in the image. In group images like this it's ideal to be able to see all the faces and eyes- you have 4.5 out of 6 which is pretty good! Some of the head angles aren't ideal but it's asking a lot to have good HAs in all the birds in a group. Luck sometimes works here! How did you try to shift the colour? I've never heard of this affecting sharpness. I think the birds here could do with one more round of subtle sharpening.
Great to see Red Knots, which are declining in North America. Friends and colleagues of mine mark knots so I will find out the origin of this bird.
Bill, I agree with your assessment and with John's critique. One thing you might look at is taking that top ridge off the image and going with an even tighter pano crop. In this case, I think the water in the FG is actually nicer than that up top of the BG. I'd move the line of birds to the top 1/3 and let the water up front carry the rest of the image.
Greetings. Since you have very high contrast color (orange against blue)... any reduction of that color contrast is going to look "less sharp" (essentially less overall contrast). I like the color contrast myself. Could use a little luminance contrast/sharpening, methinks.
Hi Bill- I promised a tagging location for this bird and here it is a mere 10 hours after I put out the call to my shorebird colleagues. You see we biologists are quite well organised!!!
This bird was tagged on 27 April 2010 at Padre Island National Seashore, Texas. I'm not sure how far that is away from your photo location. As this was spring, the bird was no doubt heading north to the Arctic to breed. The observation is interesting in that shorebirds often take very different routes going north versus going south. By very different I mean more distant than the size of the state of Texas.
Thanks John, Jules, Michael. Good points. John, thanks for the prompt info about one of my subjects, and assume the same applies to the rest of the flock that numbered about 20-30 birds. Very interesting!
I'd say they are about 300 miles northwest of where they were last spring, and I'd guess they'll hug the coast til we get a good norther. I've also noticed they eat primarily a small clam like creature, you can see them with 2 of the birds in the photo. regards~Bill
You bring up a good point Bill. We have found with Semipalmated Sandpipers that they do travel in groups and your birds may have left the Arctic together.
Tagged Knot
