Hooded Plover (Charadrius rubricollis)
Bellarine Peninsula, VIC, Australia
Always a pleasure to photograph this species as they are quite rare. This is a juv. bird and the "hood" has not yet turned black. I liked the seaweed in the BG as it gave a sense of scale so I included it all rather than cropping further. Let me know what you think
All comments welcome Paul
Canon 5D 600mm f4 L (non IS) +1.4 TC iso 400 1/1600th f9.0 CW metering at +0 handheld and rested on sand
Photoshop- slight sharpen of features
Lovely soft light Paul, with a good low perspective. I also like the pastel colours in the BG. A sloping FG/BG will always be difficult to get the right balance, but the plover looks fine in his stance, so in this, I would leave as is.
Sharp with nice detail. Awesome shooting angle and eye contact too. Not crazy about the seaweed as it is a bit distracting being so black in such a pastel coloured image.
I also like the soft colors and light. The bird is nicely pose and your low angle displays it very well. I think the seaweed adds to the image. The in focus bit of seaweed transitioning to out of focus helps draw my eye to the bird. I do however understand the option of not having the seaweed in frame. Both presentations would work in my option. If anything, I might try cropping a little off the bottom but, not so much as to eliminate all of the light brown strip.