Juvenile Lesser Yellowlegs Preen Pause.

[Daniel Cadieux]

We don't often get still water along the river here, but on this morning I was blessed with beautiful light, no wind, and a Lesser Yellowlegs preening in shallow water. This made for beautiful reflection imagery. Of course this also gave me a break from getting wet and dirty as I only crouched this time to make the reflection more apparent

Canon 7D + 100-400L @300mm, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/800s., f/7.1, ISO 400 (settings histogram checked), natural light, handheld, full frame. Very minor water clean-up (approx. 3-4 small specks eliminated via spot healing brush), made the water "bluer" by reducing the yellows to the blue and cyan channels in "Selective Color".

[Chad Caswell]

Great reflection, almost "mirror" like. Nice look back he gave you, colors and detail look spot on.. Great work!

[Arthur Morris]

Wicked on all counts. Evaluative metering at zero??? Lovely pose on this worn juvie. Love the lowered near wing and the raised far wing.

[Melissa Groo]

What a glorious shot this is, Daniel. True artistry. The reflection, the beautiful pose, the light, the clarity. This is a stunner!

[gail bisson]

Daniel,
Love the new avatar!!
This picture is superb. absolutely no nits from me. the pose, the fluffed up wing, the reflection make this a wall hanger for sure. 10 out of 10 for this one,
gail

[Randy Stout]

Daniel:

Excellent techs and comp. Good example that for reflections, lower isn't better usually.

Bill tip to bill tip ruler suggests a small CW rotation is in order. Barely noticeable, and wouldn't be visible at all except for the great reflection.

Your wife probably thought something was wrong with you when you came home without the usually mud all over

Cheers

Randy

[Marina Scarr]

Lovely capture all around. Killer light and reflection. Needs a slight CCW rotation. Like the new avatar!

[DarrenMcKenna]

Wonderful reflection and 2:3 comp is perfect here. A beautiful image with good detail and lighting.






darrenmckenna.com

[Nancy Bell]

Outstanding for all the reasons everyone stated above, especially that fantastic reflection!!

[Craig Brelsford]

Compelling, immediate, exposure spot-on, a powerful image . . . and that's just your new avatar.

As for lesser yellowlegs, yet another lesson from you on seizing an opportunity. The sweet light was opportunity enough; then there was the glassy water. Wow. And you didn't even have to get dirty for it.

[John Blumenkamp]

Fantastic image Daniel... the reflection is certainly mirror-like, and as others mentioned your techs are spot on. I think what really makes this great is your excellent composition. Congrats!

[noelle zaleski]

Lovely image Daniel. Great pose and reflection

[Ofer Levy]

Beautiful image! Great reflection!!

[Karl Egressy]

Great picture, Daniel. Love the pose, still water and reflection.

[John Chardine]

Agree, you took full advantage of the conditions presented to you Daniel. Too bad flat water is so rare!

[Craig Kerr]

Superb mirror reflection... Can't fault the shot.. Nice one

[Daniel Cadieux]

Thanks all!

Artie, I don't think evaluative metering was at zero (I did not notice where it was after I was happy with the histogram, which was metered minutes before in a different spot but same light on the bird). I do wish that was in the exif even if in manual exposure.

Randy, don't worry, I got muddied at another location later that day!

And thanks all for the new avatar kudos...not bad for a self portarit taken in my living room!!

[Herb Houghton]

Beautiful image Daniel. I like the mirror like reflection, it's super sharp and the smooth pale BGD works great with it. Nice comp with the vertical crop.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks all! Artie, I don't think evaluative metering was at zero (I did not notice where it was after I was happy with the histogram, which was metered minutes before in a different spot but same light on the bird). I do wish that was in the exif even if in manual exposure.

YAW. I would have guessed +13/ or maybe +2/3. I have tried to note that in my posts of 20+ years and folks love and learn from it. Pretty much nobody else does it.... The bummer is that with a tiny software fix the camera could record that info.....

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Sweet light here and the reflection and calm water are so cool. Love it.

[Tom Redd]

Daniel, what more can be said? This is gorgeous!

[Raul Padilla]

amazing clean reflection, great pose an eye contaxt, i like the framing, but i think an alternative framing

[Robert Holguin]

Beautiful shot. Awsome reflection and great colors. Well done.