Black-bellied plover on rock

[allanrube]

I took this shot the other afternoon when the tide was going out. I have many images of bb plovers on the sand so I liked this one on a rock. I think the water and bg add to the shot (maybe you disagree.) I got as low as I could but the beach I was on was higher than the plover, thus the oof sand.

[Randy Stout]

Allan:

I like the elevated perch, pose, sharpness and exposure.

I might consider a very light burn of the sand area to reduce its luminosity just a bit.

In a perfect world, would prefer the large rock in the BG to not be directly behind him.

Cheers

Randy

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Alan, liked this one a lot. water, habitat is all very nice. dont mind the FG blur. The sharpness is quite good but I thik one mild round of USM will make the bird pop better from the BG.

[Raymond Lee]

Randy made a good point about darken the OOF sand a bit at the bottom. I would prefer to re-crop to not include the OOF sand and focus more on the plover on the rock. Nonetheless, it's a great shot and great environment!

[Brendan Dozier]

Beautiful bird and composition, Alan. Like the soft light, pose, details, texture on FG rock and the bird contrasts nicely with BG. I'd prefer it without the OOF sand, but not a deal breaker. Maybe a little off the top to take head further from the center.

[Bill Dix]

Habitat makes this one for me. Great HA and BG. Everyone has their own ideas about comp. I'd have been tempted to take a bit off bottom, right and top. And as K. suggests, maybe just a tiny bit more USM. But in any event, a very nice image.

[Gary Esman]

Nice environmental shot. Great HA, like the background. Agree with another round of sharpening.

Gary.

[Mike Milicia]

Nice pose, great perch, and love the water in the BG!

As much as I usually prefer looser crops, I might opt to crop off most if not all of the OOF sand and also come in tighter on the top.
Would still have plenty of that great water which is what sets this image apart for me.

[Don Nelson]

Very Nice Image - We often see them on the rocks along coastal Oregon and I like this one. However a couple of points I'd change if I were working the image - I'd remove the fuzzy out-of-focus band at the bottom (just a rock really close to you, I presume), as well as the rock immediately behind the bird. I really like the blue-white surf.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I love the habitat you got this fella in, and it gave you a perfect pose. I agree with the others about the OOF sand band at bottom, plus the perch's left edge at bottom looks odd so I'd crop away that bottom layer. I don't mind the various highlights in the BG, but wish the one behind the head was not there. Well done overall, I enjoyed seeing this species on something other than sand!