Theme: Curlew Sandpiper Moving into Winter Plumage

[Craig Brelsford]

Here's a curlew sandpiper from the recent trip to Jiangsu. Fellow BPN member Daniel Pettersson and I had much success floating on our air mattress. With shorebirds, no method allows such a close approach as the mattress; no method gives the photographer such a satisfying angle. Curlew sandpipers are skittish, but Daniel and I pushed in slowly, respectfully. This shot was taken from a distance of just 8.4 m. Our individual here is an adult making the transition from the rusty-red plumage of summer to the whitish-gray of winter.

Device: Nikon D3S
Lens: VR 600mm F/4G
Focal Length: 600mm
Aperture: F/6.3
Shutter Speed: 1/3200
Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority
Exposure Comp.: None
ISO Sensitivity: ISO 640
Metering Mode: Center-Weight
Subject Distance: 8.4 m
Other notes: For this shot, I had the camera resting on the mattress. My head, arms, and upper torso were on the mattress. The rest of my body was underwater.
Photoshoppery: I'm using about two-thirds of the original frame. Removed some minor spots. Some NR on all elements except sandpiper.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Craig, thanks for explaining your technique on the water, which in turn has produced a good perspective. Good wading pose, and you have brought out the detail and colours on the Sandpiper nicely. In one way the image is perfectly aligned with regards to rotation ( using the thick white wave in the LRC, together with the thinner ripples below the feet. ) The transition between the green and white of the water throws one's eyes in another direction, if you know what I mean. Well captured.

[Craig Brelsford]

Many thanks, Stu. Thanks for your careful eye to alignment. The water topmost right is actually going inward, not upward. The thick white wave LRC gives a truer sense of the lay of the land.

[Arthur Morris]

Killer bird, pose, and plumage. Exposure perfect. The wing feathers look a tad sharper than the face; did you crop from our left?

Was the mattress grounded when you made the image or was it afloat?

[Daniel Cadieux]

Cool bird, and I like the molting plumage. Nice low angle createe by your air mattress technique, but I too am interested in if the mattress was afloat or not, and if so, did you find it bobbing in the water much?

P.S. For web presentation I'd enhance the faint reflection in the eye, just to give it a bit more life. Kudos for a great image though!

[Craig Brelsford]

Killer bird, pose, and plumage. Exposure perfect. The wing feathers look a tad sharper than the face; did you crop from our left?

Was the mattress grounded when you made the image or was it afloat?

Artie, great that you noticed the sharper wing feathers. Maybe you can tell me whether the problem isn't DOF. Maybe f6.3 wasn't narrow enough for a rather large bird (world's largest Calidris) at just 8.4 m. My focus point was on the body, and not the head, of the sandpiper. Or maybe the problem isn't DOF at all but the mattedness of the feathers on the head. The sandpiper had been dipping its head into the water; the wing feathers, by contrast, are drier and fluffier. So maybe the head looks softer as a result.

Artie, Dan, we were in about a meter of water. But the sandpiper was in an inland pool, not out on the sea. The water was calm; we weren't bobbing up and down here. Later, out on the mudflats with the wind blowing and the tide rolling in, we did indeed get pushed around some.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Artie, great that you noticed the sharper wing feathers. Maybe you can tell me whether the problem isn't DOF. Maybe f6.3 wasn't narrow enough for a rather large bird (world's largest Calidris) at just 8.4 m. My focus point was on the body, and not the head, of the sandpiper. Or maybe the problem isn't DOF at all but the mattedness of the feathers on the head. The sandpiper had been dipping its head into the water; the wing feathers, by contrast, are drier and fluffier. So maybe the head looks softer as a result.

Artie, Dan, we were in about a meter of water. But the sandpiper was in an inland pool, not out on the sea. The water was calm; we weren't bobbing up and down here. Later, out on the mudflats with the wind blowing and the tide rolling in, we did indeed get pushed around some.

Thanks Craig for the info about the mattress situation. Glad to hear you were in relatively still water!

As for the DOF issue, the highlighted phrase above is your answer right there. Always try to get the focus point on the eye. I'm a focus-recompose photographer, but have been experimenting more and more with changing the focus points too. I suppose stopping down would have taken care of that too, but even then I'd get the focus point on the eye whenever possible (or at very least some area of the face).

[gail bisson]

I would rotate this image a bit CW. I know it is technically straight but the green line still throws the eye off. I really like the rust colored feathers. You have shown the transition molt very well. I wish you had a smaller signature as well. I would prefer just your name.
I am amazed at the air mattress technique. How on earth do you prevent the camera from bobbing up and down?
Gail

[Craig Brelsford]

How on earth do you prevent the camera from bobbing up and down?

A floating air mattress is definitely not the most stable platform, and that's why (to address Dan here) my focus point was on the body. The head was just too small a target. On the mattress, focusing the camera is more like aiming a shotgun than a rifle. There are times, however, particularly in pools inland, when the water is calm, and the mattress bobs but a little. The key is to shoot at high speeds, either by making use of abundant available light or upping the ISO. Note my speed for the curlew sandpiper: 1/3200. At that high speed, blur caused by the bobbing mattress just doesn't exist. Therefore, to answer your question, Gail, there isn't much I can do to prevent the camera (actually, the mattress) from bobbing; what I do have some control over, however, is the speed at which I shoot. My mistake in this shot was not stopping down even more, to perhaps f9; my speed still would have been quick enough, even at ISO 640, and in any case I could have easily raised my ISO.

[Arthur Morris]

As Dan said, the focus was surely on the side of the body, the folded wings actually. While I often make sharp images from various types of watercraft I would find it 100% impossible to photograph while prone atop a floating mattress. It is actually difficult for me to believe that the mattress was floating as the simple act of raising up to frame the image would have the thing bobbing all over..... Especially with the "lens resting on the mattress." While I love the image I would need to see the technique in order to believe that the mattress was actually afloat.

And yes, stopping down can help when you must focus on the folded wing.

[Craig Brelsford]

. . . I would need to see the technique in order to believe that the mattress was actually afloat.

Here you go, Artie. It just so happened that one of my Chinese friends photographed us about 10 minutes before we found the curlew sandpiper. I'm the balding guy on the left.

[Arthur Morris]

Ah, now that makes much more sense assuming that you were kneeling behind the mattress (as it seems from the image) not floating on it. Your original comment "Fellow BPN member Daniel Pettersson and I had much success floating on our air mattress" was quite misleading.... :)

IAC, it is a cool technique.

ps: You have way more hair than I do.

[Craig Brelsford]

Ah, now that makes much more sense assuming that you were kneeling behind the mattress (as it seems from the image) not floating on it. Your original comment "Fellow BPN member Daniel Pettersson and I had much success floating on our air mattress" was quite misleading.... :)

IAC, it is a cool technique.

ps: You have way more hair than I do.

Give Daniel Pettersson the credit. He introduced me to the technique.

I don't know that what I said was misleading. In the shot of us two, Daniel and I were in transit, and therefore behind the mattress. But when it came time to shoot, we scooted up onto the mattress, so that most of our weight was being supported by the mattress--i.e., we were floating. To be sure, the water wasn't deep; my feet never left the muddy bottom. (With US$15,000 in equipment, you better believe I'm not heading into deep water.) But yes, our large mattress provided a stable enough platform, even with most of the weight of two men upon it.

Note also that the mattress technique works in very shallow water--even a centimeter or two--and slick mud. But if the mud isn't very slick, then the mattress acts like a suction cup, adhering tightly to the ground.

[Arthur Morris]

I don't know that what I said was misleading. In the shot of us two, Daniel and I were in transit, and therefore behind the mattress. But when it came time to shoot, we scooted up onto the mattress, so that most of our weight was being supported by the mattress--i.e., we were floating.

OK, Let's try this simple question: when you pressed the shutter button where were your feet? Where were your knees?

[Craig Brelsford]

OK, Let's try this simple question: when you pressed the shutter button where were your feet? Where were your knees?

Rule No. 1 with us was always to have our feet touching bottom. That was the case here. In the pool in which we photographed the curlew sandpiper, the water was too deep for kneeling. To operate the camera, one's hands need to be freed from the task of supporting one's weight on the mattress; we used our bellies for support against the raft and kept our feet on the bottom. In shallower water we would transit by crawling on our knees, then fall forward onto the raft when it came time to shoot. In very shallow water or on mud, almost our entire body was on the raft. The lower legs dangled overboard and the toes dug into the mud to provide thrust.

[Arthur Morris]

Craig, If your feet are on the ground, you are not floating.... As I said, you originally wrote "Fellow BPN member Daniel Pettersson and I had much success floating on our air mattress." That statement was indeed quite misleading.... :)