Plover feeding

[Brendan Dozier]

Cropped to vertical, CS5, lightened darks in S&H, softened contrast in levels & curves, warmed up color using color balance, boosted fine detail and added softening filter in Topaz Detal. Some burning & dodging on feathers. Not exactly sure on ID, and the treatment has somewhat transformed it, but think it is a Pacific Plover.

[Ronald Zigler]

Nice picture. Camera settings, etc?

[Brendan Dozier]

Thanks Ron,

7D, EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM +2.0x
1/800
5.6
ISO 400

This was at low tide about 40 min before sunset, but i missed the best light because my shutter button jammed temporarily from sand.

[Ronald Zigler]

Thank you Bendan. Which Canon 2x extender, the "II" or the "III"? I am impressed that you not only got such a great image, but did it with a 2x on zoom lens.

[denise ippolito]

Nice Branden, I might evict the specular highlights on the bill if it were mine. I love the very tight composition, light and background.

[Brendan Dozier]

Thanks Ron, it's the II x2.
Thanks Denise, I think some of that is grains of sand on the bill. Do you think I should do total clean-up?

[Arthur Morris]

I like the nice soft look to the image. It might need a tad of CCW rotation. If you can post a side view of the bird I can likely ID it (though I am pretty sure that it is a winter Black-bellied Plover not a Pacific Golden-Plover).

[denise ippolito]

Thanks Ron, it's the II x2.
Thanks Denise, I think some of that is grains of sand on the bill. Do you think I should do total clean-up?

No not if it's sand-my bad, but I might clean up some.

[Brendan Dozier]

Thanks, Art, I had a hard time pin-pointing the rotation on this. How do you determine? Do you try and go by the vertical axis of the head and bill?
I plan to post another shot of this one turned more to the side in Avian soon and will let you know.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks, Art, I had a hard time pin-pointing the rotation on this. How do you determine? Do you try and go by the vertical axis of the head and bill?
I plan to post another shot of this one turned more to the side in Avian soon and will let you know.

Not much to go by. It looks level judging by the sand and water but the bird itself looks a bit leaning to our right.... I would surely clean the sand off the bill if it were mine.

[Jay Sheinfield]

Beautiful image Brendan. The crossed legs are way cool. The warm lighting, softness of the water and tight comp all work super together for a very special image.

[Andrew McLachlan]

Nice capture Brendan. I like what the Topaz Detail did. I would also clean up the bill if it were mine.

[Brendan Dozier]

Here's a repost with .3 CCW rotation, bill clean-up, and some NR on BG.

[Dennis Bishop]

The soft, warm look of this is very appealing, and I think the foreground reflections are worth bonus points. I don't know what you started out with in terms of shadows and highlights, but I sure like the way it ended up. My nod goes to the original post.

[Maureen Allen]

This is beautiful, Brendan. Lovely lighting and wonderful pose. I prefer the OP with the sand on the bill. IMO, it belongs there

[Mitch Carucci]

Lovely soft light. Nice composition and technique.

[Hilary Hann]

Brendan, love the delicate way you've handled the processing of this which has kept a beautiful tonal range and soft colours. DOF and the viewpoint are visually appealing. Sand grains … don't mind either way but if I'm putting lots of pp into an image I tend to err on the side of cleaning up as much as I can. If I want a more realistic image I probably wouldn't be posting in OOTB!

[Brendan Dozier]

Brendan, love the delicate way you've handled the processing of this which has kept a beautiful tonal range and soft colours. DOF and the viewpoint are visually appealing. Sand grains … don't mind either way but if I'm putting lots of pp into an image I tend to err on the side of cleaning up as much as I can. If I want a more realistic image I probably wouldn't be posting in OOTB!

Thanks, Hilary. I'm still learning and experimenting with the soft contrast look. Comparing with the image of the same plover I posted in Avian I can see how much I've transformed the bird with the OOTB version. Especially wonder how I ended up with that much change in the coloring?

http://www.birdphotographers.net/for...p/92858-Plover