Preening Ruddy Turnstone

[Grace Scalzo]

From May, St. Augustine Beach, 6:35 am. Water was a tidal pool.

1/640, ISO400, f 5.6
Canon Mk4, 500 f4 + 1.4tc

[Arthur Morris]

Sharp. Sweet bird. Killer light, dead killer REFL. From where I sit you needed to point the camera to the right or far to the left.... Right would have been simplest and best with the bird well on the left side of the frame.

[gail bisson]

Grace,
I think this is one of your best shots. The light is so beautiful and creates a palette of golds and blue/grays that are superb. However, it is the reflection that makes this a winner. The IQ is superb.
When I first looked at the shot ,I thought "I wish I could see the eye better" but when one looks at the reflection you can really see the eye and the face perfectly.
I am sure this picture is level but the diagonal line acrooss the bottom makes me want to suggest a bit of CW rotation...but would that throw the reflection off?
!0 out of 10 from me,
Gail

[Grace Scalzo]

Thank you, Gail. It is among my favs too. Regarding leveling, I think we have to leave it as is or the bird would be tilting, no? Thank you Artie. I need to ask you for more clarification regarding "Pointing my camera to the right." The way I interpret that, I would have been focusing on the beach, not the bird, so I think I don't know what you mean.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Really pretty shot and a killer reflection. Agree about the rotation.

[dankearl]

This is a killer image.
The reflection is so good, you could rotate it upside down and it would look good.
Just a slight rotation and you really have a special photo here.
Art.

[Marina Scarr]

Killer pose and reflection on this one. Light is gorgeous too. Needs some rotation. If you take a staight line from beak to beak, you'll notice it is off a hair.

[Arthur Morris]

Thank you Artie. I need to ask you for more clarification regarding "Pointing my camera to the right." The way I interpret that, I would have been focusing on the beach, not the bird, so I think I don't know what you mean.

First, the composition makes no sense either to me or to my brain. What I tried to get across was the fact that the subject needed to be placed either well to the left--my first choice, or well to the right. You do either of those by pointing your lens one way or the other after focusing. How were you focusing when you created this image?

[Brendan Dozier]

Wow, Grace, this is really an outstading piece of art! Awesome light, reflection and everything else. Understand suggestions regarding comp, but beautiful work!

[Melissa Groo]

What a breathtaking photo, Grace. Every picture you post is so stellar, but this one in particular is a standout indeed. Don't know if I've seen a better reflection. Love the light, the low angle, the peaceful mood. Gorgeous!

[Tom Redd]

Grace, the detail, colors and reflection are just incredible. The only thing I think you might consider would be a vertical crop, which you probably already did consider, but I throw it out there. As for the rotation, I believe Marina is right, but just barely some rotation. This photo is just marvelous! Congratulations on a winner.

[Ofer Levy]

Beautiful image! Fantastic light and colours! I have tried to rotate it but feel it is fine as presented. Composition looks fine to me but personally I like a more 2:3 version as in here.

[Tom Rambaut]

I like Ofer's repost and interestingly I'm drawn to the eye in the refection rather than the real thing. Killer colours.

[Don Lacy]

Grace, This image is magical for all the reason mention above. I am with Ofer on presenting this in the 2:3 format the unconventional comp works better for me when you give the subject more space on the sides.

[Mital Patel]

Grace,

Well this is absolutely beautiful sharp capture one wish to have in kitty sorta..
Every points been discussed. And i like what Ofer did on repost.

Still if i have to choose to what to do,
I will remove the grey line on bottom, Add canvas on left as it looks pretty simple to do from plain golden reflection and not much busy water.

Tiny amount of CW to give good leveled image.

The best part is the visibility of the REFL an even better visibility actually i would say including the EYE.

[Josh Clark]

Absolutely killer image. Such beautiful light you and and a great reflection. As good as it gets. Congrats on a well taken image. I would love to have this one in my collection.

[christopher galeski]

beautiful image Grace,excellent lighting and reflection,I too like ofers post,either one would do for me.well done.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Beautiful colours and pose!! Killer reflection too and perfect angle for it (not too low not too high). My first instinct was to have the subject closer to the left edge (and perhaps slightly higher)...this is what Artie means by having pointed the lens more to the right. You can change focus points or focus / recompose for that. Ofer's repost kinda addresses that adding more room at right, but I still would prefer the turnstone a bit closer to the edge by cropping about 1/3 off the left on the repost. Very subjective of course....

[Stu Bowie]

Grace, lovely soft light, and your low angle of capture works well. I think Artie means that you could have used one of your focus points on the left, thus pushing your subject to the left in the frame, and having more 'empty' space on the right. Dan has basically noted the same. I use this technique for take off shots - using an outer focussing point which then allows the subject to take off into your frame, and you dont end up cutting off the subject. Of course you timing must be spot on.

[Grace Scalzo]

Thanks to everyone who commented. I have used back button focus for years. My first choice is to select the focus point closest to the bird's eye. (Unless of course the bird is going to fly as per Stuart). Second choice is to focus then recompose by releasing the back button. I do not find this method results in the sharpest images but sometimes out of necessity you have to do it (such as when using a 2x tc and your focus point is limited to the center). THis was taken back in May and I do not recall how I focused, but given that I was not limited by a 2x, I probably selected the point closest to the eye. All that being said, I posted this image because my comp was off, didn't settle with me. I've taken all your suggestions to heart. Ofer's repost rings true as far as comp. I will try a bit of rotation, but at this moment I'm not seeing the need and also I think I will not eliminate the blue strip at the bottom but even it so it does not look slanted. (Thanks Mital) It was a tidal puddle and that's the way it was, but I think is a bit unsettling to the viewer. Again, I appreciate all your help, and kind words. Will repost it when it's done.

[Sidharth Kodikal]

This is such a gorgeous image, Grace. The light, the mood, the setting. It's all amazing.

[Randy Stout]

Grace:

Beautifully done, superb light and a wonderful reflection.

I really like the shapes here, the curving line of the bird and its reflection. Because of the tucked head, and the way the lines of the image works, you don't need a lot of space to the left, all the energy and flow of this image moves to the right for me, so that is where you want relatively more room than on the left.

Very charming.

Cheers

Randy

[arash_hazeghi]

I love the preening pose and the sweet light, comp works for me . well done

[Jim Fenton]

Grace...

Love the light and I love the fact that this is different.

Reflection is superb and completely makes this image as if you you couldn't have seen what the bird was doing from underneath, it probably would have been deleted :)

I hear what Artie is saying about the positioning BUT...I think if you had done what he suggested, you might well have lost the effect of that great reflection showing what the subject was actually doing?

[Arthur Morris]

I hear what Artie is saying about the positioning BUT...I think if you had done what he suggested, you might well have lost the effect of that great reflection showing what the subject was actually doing?

Please explain why.

[RakeshDhareshwar]

All superlatives already mentioned ....Would like to add ......fantabolous !!!

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Grace, what a shot....loved the light and the clean reflection. terrific details.

Compositionally, I like the choice you made. When bird's body faces one way and the head the other way, its always a little tricky. Taking a sliver off the left edge will work as well. In such shots, I personally prefer more room above the bird than there is below the reflection...so this one works for me.

I am wondering if a vertical 8X10 will have more impact.

[denise ippolito]

Grace, It's a beautiful image and the reflection is killer. This is a tricky one because I know you like to give your subjects some breathing room like I do. The comp. as originally presented does feel a little odd. I think even though your subject is in the ROT position it would probably feel more balanced with some canvas off the left because of the birds head position. I think a little off the top as Ofer suggested and some off the left to get the bird more to the left side of the frame as suggested by Artie would look nice. This is an interesting post and it really makes you carefully consider the composition. Again, fantastic image and I wish it were mine.

[Robert Holguin]

Beautiful image. Super reflection and the lighting and pose and detail are just amazing. Well done.

[Robert vanMierop]

Wow...that's one of the best refl. shot I've seen. I often check out that beach on my way to work, especially at lower tides when more pools are present. Last Spring I chatted with a lady out there with some nice Canon glass. If that was you, hi again, and congrats on a beauty of a shot.

[Troy Lim]

Superb shot, love Ofer's repost.