Broad-billed Sandpiper Between Summer and Winter Plumage

[Craig Brelsford]

A broad-billed sandpiper, long since accustomed to our benign presence, glances back at the camera in a brackish pool just inland from the East China Sea in Yangkou, China. Fellow BPN member Daniel Pettersson and I were floating on our trusty air mattress. This individual captured our attention because it was one of the few broad-billed sandpipers we saw in a plumage more wintry than summery. The brick-red and rufous tones, still faintly visible, of summer are giving way to the grays and whites of winter. The wedge-shaped tip of the broad-billed is distinctive and is clearly illustrated in my image.

Device: Nikon D3S
Lens: VR 600mm F/4G
Focal Length: 850 mm (used 1.4x TC)
Aperture: F/7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/1250
Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority
Exposure Comp.: +0.33
ISO Sensitivity: ISO 2000
Metering Mode: Center-Weight
Subject Distance: 11.9 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. In this way, Daniel and I stayed very low, reassuring the birds and affording us a low perspective; what’s more, we moved silently, smoothly, because our legs, which were powering us forward, were hidden under the water.
Photoshoppery: I'm using about two-thirds of the original frame. Removed some minor spots. Noise reduction on all elements except sandpiper.

[ramesh anantharaman]

Hello Craig,

I really love the low angle, settings and composition here. Efforts well paid off.

[Stu Bowie]

Hey Craig, you seemed to have your floating mattress sorted with regards to getting close to your subjects. I feel you have nailed this in all aspects, and Im going to add this is one of your better images - Well done. Superb perspective, with perfect space below. Nothing to bug my eyes with rotation in this image.

[Ron Sprunger]

What a lovely bird! I haven't seen one, so this is a treat. Beautifully taken. While the BG is a little busy, it's well blurred, and the bird stands out from it so clearly that it works really well.

[Richard Unsworth]

Floating matresses; I like it!
Great pic, not seen one of these before; lovely image, Killerangle and BG

[Craig Kerr]

Every thing about this image works... Like the shallow DOF

[Arthur Morris]

You are killing me with these great shorebirds. I once saw a juvie of this species at JBWR in Queens, NY. The late Tom Davis said that if you lived long enough that every migrant shorebird species in the world would find its way to the east pond. This one is much sharper on the face than the CUSA. I like the slight look=back head angle.

You might lose the dark band upper center using a 20% Opacity Clone Stamp Tool as taught to me by Denise Ippolito.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Craig, you've been presenting us with some excellent shorebird species!! Beautiful image throughout. I agree with Artie about the dark upper band, and would add that fill-flash would have helped here IMO, especially with the eye, face, and neck. Great job!

[Craig Brelsford]

You are killing me with these great shorebirds. I once saw a juvie of this species at JBWR in Queens, NY. The late Tom Davis said that if you lived long enough that every migrant shorebird species in the world would find its way to the east pond. This one is much sharper on the face than the CUSA. I like the slight look=back head angle.

You might lose the dark band upper center using a 20% Opacity Clone Stamp Tool as taught to me by Denise Ippolito.

Artie, I'm very much interested in the opacity clone stamp tool, but a search on Help in Photoshop nets me no results. Did Denise write a book?

[Craig Brelsford]

Hey Craig, you seemed to have your floating mattress sorted with regards to getting close to your subjects. I feel you have nailed this in all aspects, and Im going to add this is one of your better images - Well done. Superb perspective, with perfect space below. Nothing to bug my eyes with rotation in this image.

Stu, when a shooter with your skills tells me that I've nailed a shot in all aspects, then I know I've probably got it right. Thanks.

[Arthur Morris]

Artie, I'm very much interested in the opacity clone stamp tool, but a search on Help in Photoshop nets me no results. Did Denise write a book?

She has written several but none covering that. The basics are actually pretty simple. With the Clone Stamp Tool active, make sure that the Hardness is set to 50% and to the right of that on the upper bar, make sure that the Content Aware button is selected. Then set the Opacity to 20%. Then Alt click on the nice clean parts of the BKGR and click on the dark areas.

Do see today's blog post so that you can get in touch with Denise and learn how she improved on my Protect and Defend techniques so that you can clone close to the bird's back without cloning onto the bird. The post should be up by 9am eastern time on 9/8/11.