Splish Splash....

[Arthur Morris]

Bobby Darin, 1958: "Splish splish, I was takin' a bath,long about a Saturday night. A rub-a-dub, just relaxin' in the tub, thinkin' everything was alright...

Juvenile Semipalmated Sandpiper bathing, Nickerson Beach, Long Island, NY. Flat on my belly with the Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS with the 1.4X III TC and the EOS-1D Mark IV. Central Sensor (by necessity) rear focus AI Servo AF and release (effectively One-Shot AF). ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1 stop: 1/1000 sec. at f/9 in Manual mode. Lens micro-adjustment: 0.

Don't be shy; all comments welcome.

[Randy Stout]

Artie:
He is really going at it. Sharp, well exposed, great perspective, nice subject placement for small in frame. Nice to have head clear of far shoreline.

To my eye, it needs a sliver of CW rotation, based on water and far shoreline.


Cheers

Randy

[Marina Scarr]

Love this one and the way the motion is included in feathers and water spray. Agree a tad of CW rotation but could pass without. Very nice light and I like how sharp the head and eye are here.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks both. Randy: either my Ruler Tool or my brain needs an adjustment!

[Randy Stout]

Artie:

re: rotation, perhaps just an optical illusion based on his slight angle towards us and raised pose. I hadn't checked it with ruler, just went on how it appeared to me. Sometimes I rotate an image even if the ruler says no, cause it 'looks better' to me.

Cheers

Randy

[Tom Rambaut]

I like the splish splash action and the water droplets. Placement of bird works for me and the fact that it is below the line of colour change in the BG makes a huge difference. I'm becoming more aware of this aspect of an image. Any chance of posting the histogram as shot - just curious.

[Arthur Morris]

Artie: re: rotation, perhaps just an optical illusion based on his slight angle towards us and raised pose. I hadn't checked it with ruler, just went on how it appeared to me. Sometimes I rotate an image even if the ruler says no, cause it 'looks better' to me. Cheers Randy

Used the Ruler Tool and drew a line through what I thought was the center of the ripples. Looks level to me from here.

[Arthur Morris]

I like the splish splash action and the water droplets. Placement of bird works for me and the fact that it is below the line of colour change in the BG makes a huge difference. I'm becoming more aware of this aspect of an image. Any chance of posting the histogram as shot - just curious.

That is a harder request than it seems.... I converted it in ACR with Brightness at +50 and everything else at zero; this is the RGB histogram in Photoshop. It looks perfect to me.

Which histogram did you have in mind???

[Gary Esman]

Wow 1958? Liking this one a lot! The head looks totally still but the other end is make a mess. No fixes here, the rotation appears to be an illusion cuz he is leaning a little back. I am comparing the ripples in front to the bottom of the photo.

Gary.

[Tom Rambaut]

That is a harder request than it seems.... I converted it in ACR with Brightness at +50 and everything else at zero; this is the RGB histogram in Photoshop. It looks perfect to me.

Which histogram did you have in mind???

I guess I was thinking the Camera one. NO idea how you show that! I was not expecting it to be anything else but was just curious as to how it would look given the +1 EV and the light colours in the bird contrasted with the darkish BG. There was no real point to my request other than seeing how the parts of the image fitted together. I do not use the brightness adjuestment a whole lot, may experiment with it more.

Thanks Arthur

BTW I was not even born in 1958 so have no idea what you are talking about.

[Troy Lim]

Love the action captured here.
I do have a question regarding the placement of the subject. In this shot it is well balanced to my eyes. Is it balanced because of the brown BG counter the the placement of the bird around 1/3 from the bottom. If the the BG is smooth transition of the water, placing the subject the same exact way, would it be balanced?
If anyone could help, I really appreciate it.

[Ilija Dukovski]

Great one, I love the drops, the twisted feathers, and great eye-contact.
The warm color tone is also very nice.

[Josh Clark]

Nice action shot, bath time with the birds is always fun.

[Ofer Levy]

Very sweet behaviour shot! Lovely action, sharp, excellent low angle, sharpness, detail and exposure control. Pleased to see it is saved as sRGB...
In this repost I have applied a tiny CW rotation which I felt was needed and played with colour balance a bit. Composition in the OP is fine IMO but this is just another version which I feel works as well. WDYAT? (what do you all think?)

[Richard Unsworth]

Like both versions.

Nice action , perfect focus, detail and placement, love the water drops
do I see a sharpen halo round the bill? No rotation needed AFIK

[arash_hazeghi]

I like the splash and the head angle, it is nice to see a more dynamic pose than the usual standing shots. I like something between the original comp and Ofer's repost.
PS in the original there is subtle halo around the beak which I think is coming from JPEG compression, the image is just 38KB...

[Arthur Morris]

Love the action captured here. I do have a question regarding the placement of the subject. In this shot it is well balanced to my eyes. Is it balanced because of the brown BG counter the the placement of the bird around 1/3 from the bottom. If the the BG is smooth transition of the water, placing the subject the same exact way, would it be balanced?
If anyone could help, I really appreciate it.

I would have put the bird in the exact same spot even with a uniform background....

[Arthur Morris]

Very sweet behaviour shot! Lovely action, sharp, excellent low angle, sharpness, detail and exposure control. Pleased to see it is saved as sRGB...
In this repost I have applied a tiny CW rotation which I felt was needed and played with colour balance a bit. Composition in the OP is fine IMO but this is just another version which I feel works as well. WDYAT? (what do you all think?)

ITTTABT; I think that they are both lovely. The color in your version might be a bit more accurate as it was late afternoon. Thanks!

[Arthur Morris]

I like the splash and the head angle, it is nice to see a more dynamic pose than the usual standing shots. I like something between the original comp and Ofer's repost.
PS in the original there is subtle halo around the beak which I think is coming from JPEG compression, the image is just 38KB...

Thanks Arash, Understood. Here is the problem . I created a new save for web action. It is uploaded here. (I did not expand Export as it is too long. If you need that I can post it.) As I have always done, I optimize the file to <195kb. I have done something similar in the past so I am not sure what created the small file size problem..... Previously if I optimized the file size to <195kb the files came out to somewhere between 175 and 225kbs. I never understood why they came out to more than 195 kb but that was not a huge problem. IAC, if you see something that I did wrong please let me know. I was thinking that it might have been caused by one of those wonderful updates that happen when we are sleeping as BreezeBrowser is doing something weird also....

[Arthur Morris]

Maybe it is that Without don't enlarge thing???? I have no idea where that comes from.

[RakeshDhareshwar]

Great action caught here , Artie !! The water drops add a lot to this one .

[Arthur Morris]

I guess I was thinking the Camera one. NO idea how you show that! I was not expecting it to be anything else but was just curious as to how it would look given the +1 EV and the light colours in the bird contrasted with the darkish BG. There was no real point to my request other than seeing how the parts of the image fitted together. I do not use the brightness adjuestment a whole lot, may experiment with it more. Thanks Arthur BTW I was not even born in 1958 so have no idea what you are talking about.

I think that it would be possible to get the camera histogram but it would be a real pain.... I see the BKGR as an overall light tone.... Lots of young folks over here know the song so I think that it more of a cultural thing than an age thing. Great song; you can hear it here.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Love the flying water alomost looks 3D and the wyspy moving tail feathers. I think both posts are nice am thinking repost colors work better for me and that Ofer removed that one very noticable bigger water refected drop up top. Glad to see you getting down and dirty Art. It's the only way to go.

[arash_hazeghi]

Thanks Arash, Understood. Here is the problem . I created a new save for web action. It is uploaded here. (I did not expand Export as it is too long. If you need that I can post it.) As I have always done, I optimize the file to <195kb. I have done something similar in the past so I am not sure what created the small file size problem..... Previously if I optimized the file size to <195kb the files came out to somewhere between 175 and 225kbs. I never understood why they came out to more than 195 kb but that was not a huge problem. IAC, if you see something that I did wrong please let me know. I was thinking that it might have been caused by one of those wonderful updates that happen when we are sleeping as BreezeBrowser is doing something weird also....

hum... sounds strange but I can't tell as I don't use BB, I save my files manually in PS using "save for web" and move the slider so that the file size drops below 200KB, it has always worked

[Stu Bowie]

Artie, your low angle of capture is simply perfect - eye level at its best. Love the soft light and pastel colours, and the flying droplets add interest.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I think that it would be possible to get the camera histogram but it would be a real pain.... I see the BKGR as an overall light tone.... Lots of young folks over here know the song so I think that it more of a cultural thing than an age thing. Great song; you can hear it here.

I'm thinking that Tom wanted to see the historgram in ACR before any modifications done to the file?

Yes that song must be a cultural thing...my sons, born in 2000 and 2002, both know it

[Chris Kotze]

Super low angle, great action and super detail. Interesting comments

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Artie, very nice.....loved the sharp head in contrast with the blurred droplets and wings. I think I would have also liked the higher-iso/higher SS version as well.

[Arthur Morris]

I'm thinking that Tom wanted to see the historgram in ACR before any modifications done to the file?

That is what he got! And yes, great song. When your kids tell you that they know the words to Meat Loaf's "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" you will be in big trouble!!! (First time using the grinning idiot symbol for me.)

[Daniel Cadieux]

That is what he got! And yes, great song. When your kids tell you that they know the words to Meat Loaf's "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" you will be in big trouble!!! (First time using the grinning idiot symbol for me.)

Ha ha! I'll just make sure they understand that song is REALLY about a baseball game!!

[Robert Holguin]

Excellent shot. Love the low shooting angle. Head is nice and sharp and beautiful light. Well done.