American Oystercatchers at Sandy Hook last Thursday. This time I caught the exact moment of handoff, but might have wished for a better angle and better light on Junior. Caught the entire sequence of the adult digging the clam, extracting the food, washing it, walking over and handing it to Junior. Full Width + (added slivver of canvas on the right.) Cropped to pano.
Bill, excellent exposure on these difficult characters, and I do like the plumage detail of the OC on the left. Good interaction captured, and glad that the eye is visible from the OC on the right.
Nice moment captured here. Very nice story with the whole sequence. The light seems a bit harsh, and it is unfortunate that the chick is shaded, as his face is covered by his own shadow. The pano crop give a very tight feeling, I would leave some more room at the top.
Odd man out here for me :). In addition to the harsh, off-angled light, the image is mega-over-sharpened and IQ looks a bit iffy.... The red bill of the adult could be toned down with the addition of about 80 points of CYAN in Selective Color. Yes to good timing.
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Thank you all for looking, and for the helpful suggestions. Artie, I agree about the light strength and direction. I got to the beach not long after sunrise, but by the time I came across these guys it had been up for several hours and was indeed harsh. I'm not seeing the oversharpening, or at least not much; but I've been having trouble with my glasses. The IQ also looks ok to me except on Junior's head and part of the body where I dodged it; I agree that those areas look a bit funky. I desaturated the reds in the bill considerably, but maybe not enough. The strong light sent their bills ablaze. I appreciate the comments.