Oystercatcher mother to be

[Richard Unsworth]

I thought I would post this to get some feed back
Of course it was taken into harsh light which was the only position available at the time.
I was thrilled to see an egg here; laid on bare ground, a beautiful object!
I had never seen one of these before, had never been able to get a close shot of the Oystercatcher either. I find the shell debris fascinating
Some forums do not allow images like this to be posted; if thats the case here please delete it. I did check the guidlines and couldnt find any notes relating.
The image was poor OOC so I have used Topaz Detail, Levels and a lot of tweaking to get thus faR.
the blacks are particularly poor
Critique is welcome, so I wont be offended iof its for the bin; I thought members might like to see the egg!
Canon 40D, 100-400 + 1.4 TC2
F 8, ISO 400, SS 1/400, Ev + 0.33

[Geoff Warnock]

Hi Richard,

Considering the harsh light it could be worse I think. Assuming you've cropped this, I think you could go looser to help the IQ, as it is already effectively and environment shot. I would then reduce the contrast, and keep it as a start on oystercatchers. When you get a chance in better light later you can always retire it to a backup folder! I've yet to get this close to oystercatchers, so I'd have taken this opportunity too, but probably tried fill flash. If you haven't tried flash with better beamer and high speed sync yet, you should!

[Richard Unsworth]

Hi Geoff, thanks for posting

will come back some; actually after posting I found a better take on same subject but I need to review PP

as an aside, I was intrigued playing with Topaz Detail 2 today its seems pretty good but have yet to master its functions

fill flash - noted

[Ian Cassell]

Hi Richard,

I agree that the light is harsh and maybe a bit too shadowed on her face, but it IS an interesting image. I probably wouldn't have noticed the egg if you hadn't pointed it out! These guys are tough to get close to. I took a bunch in NJ last year, but they were severely cropped. I got a few of the western version last week in CA, but it's a different looking bird.

[Kerry Perkins]

Hi Richard, no need to beat yourself up! You got a good record shot and I would be happy to have it. Now that you know where and when to find this situation you might get a better chance next year. I think you covered all the technical issues. I would lower the overall level and add a slightly dark vignette to help draw the eye to the egg. I really like the shells that are lying around.

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Richard, please post this in " All About Bird" forum. I can move it as well but it would give you a chance to see that side too. I find the egg image very interesting and glad you made the post - thanks for sharing.

[Richard Unsworth]

Richard, please post this in " All About Bird" forum. I can move it as well but it would give you a chance to see that side too. I find the egg image very interesting and glad you made the post - thanks for sharing.

Hi Jeff

will do