Purple Sandpiper

[denise ippolito]

Canon 1D Mark III
500mm +1.4 ex
1/2000 sec. at f/6.3
ISO 400
Tripod
I was happy to see this one in a puddle on top of a jetty rock using it as a bird bath.
Barnegat Jetty, yesterday
I did remove a little bit of OOF FG.

[Randy Stout]

Denise:

Sorry I missed this last night.

It really does look like a natural birdbath!

Your bird is sharp, well exposed, like that angle in the frame.

I have mixed feelings about the strip of blue at the bottom. The rim of rock tends to divide the image and rather stops the progression into the image. It might have been interesting to take it from just a bit higher prospective to reduce that impact.

I would try cropping up just enough to eliminate the blue from below. Makes it a bit tight, but I think I like the flow through the image better that way.

One other option, would be to remove the large clump of dark BG stuff in the LUC. I believe the image would be stronger without that.

If you decide to leave in the bottom blue strip, I would still consider cleaning up the top area, leaving you with several bands of blue alternating with the rocks, might make for a nice sense of repeating elements.

Thats a lot of change for me to recommend, but thats how it struck me

Cheers

Randy

[denise ippolito]

Thanks Randy, I have plenty of clean shots of these guys but none of them in a natural birdbath. I do appreciate your thoughts and if I was going to present a polished look I would definitely consider your excellent recommendations, just trying to show a little bit of their behavior, thanks.

[Pieter de Waal]

Hi Denise excellent IQ, light and defenition on the sandpiper. He seems most content in his bath.

[James Salywoda]

I like it Denise as presented your choice for composition is perfect showing off this beautiful shorebird in a natural made bath.

[Herb Houghton]

I like the natural setting Denise. It looks like this guy found a nice natural bird bath. I must have missed you as I was there Sat. morning.

[denise ippolito]

Thanks guys, I appreciate it.
Herb, I was there at 6:30am till about 10:30, we took a break for lunch and I got back around 2:30 and we took our time getting back out since it was so windy. Wish we had met up.

[ChasMcRae]

Unusual setting for this bird means a very unusual image.
If you crop it too much you lose the feeling of unusual setting for this bird.