Lesser Sandplover

[Mital Patel]

Lesser Sandplover
(Charadrius mongolus)
Jamnagar, Gujarat, INDIA


April 23, 2011, 8:14am
1D MARK IV, 500 F/4, 2x TC
1/1600, f/9, ISO 640 @ 1000mm


Plenty of plovers around thousands gathered for their return migration. this one stand tall in front of some in bit off space and where i was sleeping on ground waiting for them to come close.
having few in bg was really tuff so i made two version.


Many in india love to keep image as is for competitions i found many would love image to be usable to do whatever makes it worth..


i am open for both :)


still the two plovers i find in front and that too one in breeding annoys me and some more detailed work may be hour or two can bring in single plover in frame but i thought to keep them ..


Frankly i wish all of you guide me on this part what should be the best to do ?
Feel free to suggest for more better ...

[Mital Patel]

This one is having as shot bg.

[Stu Bowie]

Tack sharp Mital, with good colours on the plover. Your low perspective also works well. You have done a great job in removing the OOF plovers behind the back, and I like the similar poses of the other OOF plovers.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I prefer the cleaner scene of the OP, but I still wish you had more separation between the BG birds (which are missing their legs BTW) and the main subject. I realize moving left a bit would have only introduced other BG birds so that was difficult to deal with. Great low angle and techs. I like the bit of blue in the water.

[Mital Patel]

DANIEL

Thanks for your appreciation. As I said it was really tuff to make move to loose them all. Using 1000mm intention was for that reason to get frame from outer fear zone.

[Jonathan Ashton]

I really like the first image - it works well for me. Nice angle and superb definition.

[Mital Patel]

Daniel,

Thanks i just logged in to my mbpro and found what you were pointing about legs of OOF plovers.
here i've recovered from original and change little on background.

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Hi Mital, I too prefer the OP and although I would have liked the birds to not be so close together, this image did grow on me quickly :)
I love the low angle, nice light and beautiful sharpness.
What a gorgeous bird. Hope to make it to Gujarat some day.

[Mital Patel]

Sidharth
most welcome .. gujarat has great potential on Avifauna just that its hard on photography point for climate and birds friendliness.

[Nancy Bell]

The main plover is awesome with super sharp details. Have you considered selecting the bkgd and reducing the saturation of the orange color and adding guassian blur?

[Arthur Morris]

Commenting on the best, Pane 7. Had the middle bird taken a small step forward the alignment would have been perfect. Is the bright bird in the back a male of the same species? In the end, great PS work.

[Daniel Cadieux]

The legs added back really make a nice difference!

[Mital Patel]

Commenting on the best, Pane 7. Had the middle bird taken a small step forward the alignment would have been perfect. Is the bright bird in the back a male of the same species? In the end, great PS work.

Thanks Artie for the kind compliment on PS work. the back bird with white in middle is non-breeding one. the front one is just assuming and the third reddish was in almost acquired breeding..

[Mital Patel]

The main plover is awesome with super sharp details. Have you considered selecting the bkgd and reducing the saturation of the orange color and adding guassian blur?

Nancy thanks for stopping over.

Yes i tried doing that but then i was loosing the shape and i felt the one looking right now giving that plover feel was good so kept it. yet i've managed to do a gradient layer blending between OOF and the main plover.

[Arthur Morris]

If you have a good image of a breeding plumage male please post it

[Mital Patel]

Thanks Guru ji,

Will find and post one..

For all others. This is the image just to give idea of the gathering on the platform. As for photography as said they were in their return migration gathering and while assuming breeding they become so shy to give close encounter. You move 1 Inch they move 5"...

Wish for better luck some other time this next April..

This is untouched Full Frame image just compositional crop and as is just added sharpness for jpg output...
Yeah its Greater Sand Plover in Front and rest many plovers and sandpipers were in back.

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Sidharth
most welcome .. gujarat has great potential on Avifauna just that its hard on photography point for climate and birds friendliness.

Hu chokkas avees Mital bhai :)
LRK, GRK and especially the state bird of Gujarat are high on my bucket list.

[Mital Patel]

oh my you speak so many language :)
Most welcome.

[Raul Padilla]

great detail and pose, i like the second bird in the back, but not the third, great work