Baby Avocet

[wendell westfall]

D90 70-200VR+2X@400 1/1000 f/5.6 ISO400 0EV handheld

Some babies have now arrived. This morning I found this little guy and one sibling learning from Mom how to sweep the mudflats for food. They keep very busy just like their parents do -- it's a bird's life. The image was adjusted in LR3, with some NR and USM and a catch-light added in PSE8. All criticism welcomed . . .

Wendell

[Kerry Perkins]

Wendell, this is a sweet capture! Very cute chick, all legs and feet. A very slight head turn would be great but the head angle is pretty good. Nice exposure, detail, and color. Good job with the catch light! Feels like it needs a very slight CCW rotation, but overall this is very nicely done. Good show Wendell!

[Bill Dix]

Terrific shot, Wendell. Love the fuzziness and the feet. A little more DOF might have helped, but you needed the SS and probably didn't want to go higher than 400ISO with the D90. I wouldn't have noticed had you not pointed it out, but the catchlight looks just a tad sharp to me. You might experiment with one click of the blur tool at say 20% opacity just on the catchlight, and see if it looks more natural. All in all, a wonderful capture. Wish it were mine.

[wendell westfall]

Thanks guys -- CCW and catch-light, will do.

[Gary Thompson]

Hi Wendell, I like this shot. I think if you pull the brightness back a touch, you might be surprised how the bird pops out a bit. It's just a suggestion on my part. It just seems a bit bright to me.

Gary

[wendell westfall]

Thanks, Gary, I'll try it . . .

[John Hawkins]

Very nice capture. I agree with above comments. My only suggestion is to lighten the eye a little.

[LeeFortier]

Great catch. I'm surprised you could get so close but I'm glad you did.