American Avocet

[John Guastella]

Taken at the San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary, Irvine, CA. Just a simple shot I took while waiting for some mating action (oops, not me personally -- I mean the birds!).

Canon 7D and the Canon 500mm f/4 + Canon 1.4X Extender Mark II. Manual, f/9 at 1/1600sec. ISO 400. Tripod-mounted.

I enhanced the catchlight. The light-brown strip at the top of the frame may be a distraction - interested in opinions on this (easy to remove).

All C&C appreciated,

John

[Randy Bronkema]

John
nice soft color, sharp, back ground blurs out nice around the head of the bird. for me the brown is not a big deal the rest of the image i feel is strong enough that it gets over looked. nice job.

[Steven Kersting]

Very nice picture!
I do think the brown stripe is a bit of a distractor.... It doesn't ruin the image, but it would be better without it.

[Ofer Levy]

Excellent image! I actually like the brown stripe at the top. Just wish the bird was slightly smaller in the frame.

[Levina de Ruijter]

I find the brown band distracting and like Ofer, I too wish the bird had a bit more room in the frame.
With that out of the way: I love it. A beautiful image with sharpness where it must be and softness where it must be, well exposed, great pose. Just lovely.

[Doug Brown]

A great place to photograph. Nice low shooting angle, excellent detail, and a solid exposure. Not sure about the brown at the top.

[arash_hazeghi]

very nice pose and details, nice light too, I'd go with a looser crop.

[ann shiller]

I'm just an amature, but I like the crisp look and the bird which is the subject filling the frame does not bother me. I like the contrasting blues and browns. The pose is elegant... love the detail from the top of the head down to the foot.

[Troy Lim]

Love the details. Agree the bird is a bit big.

[Alan Murphy]

Before I noticed the brown reflection, I was drawn to the need for more room for the virtual feet. Love the image.

[Dave Leroy]

Lovely photo with an elegant pose.

I agree a bit more room all around and in particular for the virtual feet.

I am on the side of liking the brown strip at top.

Nicely exposed as well.

Dave

[Stu Bowie]

I like the low angle here, together with the walking pose. Lovely soft light, with good colours throughout.

[John Guastella]

Thanks, everyone, for the excellent feedback, particularly about the tightness of the image (which was FF). I'm starting to think that for my current shooting site -- where many of the birds come quite close -- I may be better off removing the 1.4X extender.

John

[Steven Kersting]

Thanks, everyone, for the excellent feedback, particularly about the tightness of the image (which was FF). I'm starting to think that for my current shooting site -- where many of the birds come quite close -- I may be better off removing the 1.4X extender.

John

Quite possibly. I've found that in many cases the loss of IQ from the TC is equivalent to cropping/enlarging the image taken w/o TC....

[stuart wanuck]

lovely image

[Dudley Watson]

Top class image with lovely detail and light..Low angle makes a really special image VWD