Ruddy Turnstone

[Tom Rambaut]

I caught this Ruddy Turnstone the other day working its way through seaweed.

1dMK4, 500mm + 2x (1000mm), 1/200 @ 11, iso400, EV0.

Thanks Tom

[arash_hazeghi]

very nice display of enviroment and a handsome bird. was this a large crop?

[Tom Rambaut]

very nice display of enviroment and a handsome bird. was this a large crop?

About 75% FF. WHY?

[Chris Martinez]

IQ looks touch down on this one, Tom.(might be why Arash asked the Q)

I reckon ISO 400 or even 800 then stopping down a touch would have helped out here.

Perhaps a placing the RT a little higher in the frame might be more appealing. I'm not sure if it was hunkered down but it "feels" like you chopped it's legs off Just my thoughts though

[Daniel Cadieux]

I like the placement of the subject in the frame, and I even like the dirty bill in this case...but I must be honest and say that for me the large object in the BG (leaf?) does not do it for me and my eye keeps going straight for it. I love the rest of the vegetation though.

[Tom Rambaut]

IQ looks touch down on this one, Tom.(might be why Arash asked the Q)

I reckon ISO 400 or even 800 then stopping down a touch would have helped out here.

Perhaps a placing the RT a little higher in the frame might be more appealing. I'm not sure if it was hunkered down but it "feels" like you chopped it's legs off Just my thoughts though

It was ISO 400 - IQ, may be that I ran a noise reduction on the whole image and painted away the NR on the bird. Fist time I have done it this way. I saw Greg Basco do this on one of his video tutorials on his website. I also played around with the smart sharpening app in CS5. I have not used this before. I quess I could have added some more foreground but it would have been more OOF seaweed. I was trying to give a feel that this guy was busy in the seaweed and just popped up.

[Tom Rambaut]

I like the placement of the subject in the frame, and I even like the dirty bill in this case...but I must be honest and say that for me the large object in the BG (leaf?) does not do it for me and my eye keeps going straight for it. I love the rest of the vegetation though.

Thanks for the honest opinion - I would rather that than you just saying nothing or 'nice image'. The OOF thing is a sandstone rock. I cropped to keep it in as I thought it would show the environment well - bird amongst the rocks and seaweed. It does indeed dominate the image though. I just like the texture of the rock with its diagonal lines but I guess this should be an image about the bird not the rock.

[Robert Holguin]

Real nice shot, great comp, like the pose, and habitat.
Well done.

[Alan Lillich]

Unlike Daniel, I like the BG rock(?). It blends with the color scheme, is OOF enough to not distract me. It is enough egg shaped and striped to add a humorous feel of a giant Easter egg.

[arash_hazeghi]

It was ISO 400 - IQ, may be that I ran a noise reduction on the whole image and painted away the NR on the bird. Fist time I have done it this way. I saw Greg Basco do this on one of his video tutorials on his website. I also played around with the smart sharpening app in CS5. I have not used this before. I quess I could have added some more foreground but it would have been more OOF seaweed. I was trying to give a feel that this guy was busy in the seaweed and just popped up.

I think the lack of details is because you ran NR on the bird. You shouldn't need any NR on the bird at low ISO.

[Tom Rambaut]

I think the lack of details is because you ran NR on the bird. You shouldn't need any NR on the bird at low ISO.

Ok. You are most likley right Arash - NR on the bird was not warrented.