Buff-breasted Sandpiper

[Christopher Ciccone]

It's been about a month or so since my last post, so I thought I would share an image that has received some nice feedback from other quarters - but I would like to see what constructive criticism and comments I could receive here.

This is one (and my favorite) of several photos I took a few weekends ago of some very confiding Buff-breasted Sandpipers along the New Hampshire coast. They often came too close to focus with the 500mm, and were usually moving too fast for me to even keep them in the frame!



EXIF info:
Focal Length: 500mm
Exposure time: 1/2500
Aperture: f/5.6
ISO: 400
EB: +2/3
Metering: Matrix
Aperature Priority

This was taken at about 3:30 in the afternoon in intermittent sun/clouds (light changed quite regularly)

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Christopher,

Greetings. The position looks good, apparent eye contact. A little tight all around for my taste but particularly in front. The image seems front focused to me... whatever is on the ground tells the tale. At f/5.6 and 500mm, even with a ff camera the dof is going to be pretty thin. Looks like you had ISO and SS to spare. Perhaps some additional sharpening/detailing might improve the head/neck/breast feather detail. Running shore birds are tough (I like beaches with people running or walking to corral them toward where I'm lying on the ground )

Cheers,

-Michael-

[John Chardine]

Hi Christopher- I'm not seeing the softness Michael is implying is there in the head/neck/breast- sometimes feather structure and "fluffiness" at the tips can give the impression of softness. The head/bill, neck and breast all look nice and sharp to me. A smaller aperture may have rendered the legs and feet in focus, which would have been nice. Love the lighting. Agree that the subject is too tight in the frame. Are you able to give more space to the left (top priority), and below (next priority)?

[Richard Stern]

Hi,

Looks pretty sharp to me, and I agree with John.

Richard

[Christopher Ciccone]

Thanks guys - unfortunately, I actually do not have any additional space on top or bottom, so I suppose my only other option would be to bring it back to a horizontal... but it is actually dead center in the frame, not a pleasing composition either!

[Kerry Perkins]

Christopher, nice looking bird! Detail looks good to me, could be a bit sharper overall but it's not a defect in my opinion. Super pose, exposure, and color rendition. The crop does not have to be "all or nothing". Since you have more canvas on the left and right, I would suggest at the very least giving the tail more space on the right and giving the bird more space on the left. Do you use PS? Very easy to add canvas to the top, especially if you have CS5.

[Christopher Ciccone]

Thanks Kerry - I am using CS3 so I don't have the content aware fill, but I might still be able to do something with the top, but I've been unsuccessful trying to add to the bottom.
I was also considering a square crop, but I get the feeling that people don't generally care for that. I migh try it nevertheless as it will definitely give the bird a little more 'breathing room'