avocet at takeoff

[Allen Hirsch]

Kept this avocet fully in-frame just barely at takeoff (next two frames only showed legs and a water trail), but needed to add canvas above and in front to improve the composition (first time using this "trick").

50D + 500L f4.5 + 1.4x non-reporting, on tripod & Wimberley II head. ISO 500, f6.3, 1/2500. pp in Lightroom; canvas work in Elements.

[Levina de Ruijter]

Hi Allen. I think you froze the action well here and did good on the exposure. Good job on adding canvas, although I might try adding a bit more for the bird to fly into. I also like the wing spread and that it is facing you. I like the image a lot.

[John Chardine]

Well done on adding canvas too! I like the image a lot- very dynamic. Great wing and head angles, great light, and a really nice foreground and background. The only thing I would try is to rotate the image CCW so that the ripple under the feet is perfectly horizontal- water doesn't lie as they say!

[Randy Stout]

Allen:

Good points by Levina and John. Nice job of adding canvas, and yes, a smidge more on the right would work.

Excellent angle in frame, head stands out well despite merge with rear wing.

John is right about the rotation.

Cheers

Randy

[Kerry Perkins]

Allen, very nice capture and I love the feet dragging in the water. Tech points covered above and you did a nice job on the canvas stretching. I agree that more on the right would be nice and even a bit more on top for my eye. Always nice to see more "left coast" folks here! Some day we need to have a GTG (get together) out this way. Maybe somewhere on the central coast. Looking forward to more from you!

[Steven Kersting]

Looks like the brush you used to clone was a bit too large/hard and the sample point wasn't level with where you started brushing....the BG is kind of "stair stepping" up to the rt.

I think you could have given up some ss to gain dof primarily due to the fact that the water woouldn't be distracting even if in focus. I don't know how fast avocets move, but I'm guessing you might have close to 2x the ss needed to freeze the motion.

I must admit though, it's very easy to second guess...much harder to shoot. I know when I'm trying for action shots I often set up for "the best for the worst" and my settings end up less than ideal for some opportunities....just the way it goes.

[Allen Hirsch]

Thanks for the feedback, everyone.

I've added more canvas on top and the right and fixed the image with more CCW rotation on a subsequent version.

This guy did give me a split-second warning he/she was taking off by defecating first - probably why I got this one image in the frame (but not enough time to change settings).

I'm sure my canvass extension work could be improved, since this was my first try. But I don't understand your sample point/clone comment, Steven, since this extension was done using the marquee tool and free transform, as the tutorial I used showed.

[Steven Kersting]

But I don't understand your sample point/clone comment, Steven, since this extension was done using the marquee tool and free transform, as the tutorial I used showed.

Well, that would be because I was wrong...
I'd be interested in seeing the original as I don't understand why the water pattern shifts so dramatically on the rt edge of it wasn't what I thought...Unless when doing the free transform you also did some skew/rotate.

[pat lillich]

Great capture Allen! This turned out beautiful.

[Tom Redd]

Well done Allen. I would agree with a bit more canvas in front of the subject, still beautiful.

[Alan Lillich]

The pose is great. With the bird leaning forward and the visible breast muscles you can almost feel the downstroke and lift off.