Long Billed Dowitcher

[Robert Holguin]

Hello everyone. I got up early a couple of weeks ago to check out a new ponding area someone had told me about. I saw a group of these coming towards me as the sun was coming up. I was able to capture this little guy/gal as it seperated it self from the group for a liitle while.
C&C welcomed and encouraged.
Nikon 300s l Nikon 200-400 w/ 1.4 tc l ISO 800 l 560mm l 1/1000 l F8 l Multi Segment l Manual l On Skimmer Pod.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Robert, super low angle, and good DOF on the bird. The dowitcher is nice and sharp showing good feather detail. I like the layered BG too. Although you have left room for the virtual feet, I feel maybe a touch too much. If this were mine, I would also add a bit to the right to create more of a horizontal comp.

[gail bisson]

I like the dreamy feel this has. I like the composition as is. Good light. I would tone down the specular highlights on the bill. Very nice complimentary BG. My only small nit about this image is the OOF ? dowitcher that merges with the bill. I would also remove or burn the white round blobs in the BG on upper right of the bird. A lovely shot as is though,
Gail

[Randy Stout]

Robert:

Impressive low angle, nice light, well exposed.

Agree with cleaning up a few specular highlights, toning down the blob behind the bill.

I do like the comp, but appreciate Stuart's tip on the room to right, and would be worth trying a version with more to the right.

Was the foreground in shadow, or did you add an effect there?

The bird is slightly oversharpened for my taste, looking a bit crunchy. I am sensitive to this, and perhaps it won't effect others.

Cheers

Randy

[Ryan Schain]

Nice bird and low angle. The bird is definitely oversharpened, and the whites on the belly are too hot for my taste (although when I angle my monitor it looks like you've still got the details in there and could easily fix this). I agree with others above about cleaning up the hot spots on the bill, and adding some more room (comp is too tight for me--but I like to leave more room than most).

[Karl Egressy]

One of the shorbirds I have difficulties to ID. (Short-billed or Long-billed.)
Very nice picture Robert.
It was worth to get up early.

[Sachin Saraf]

Robert this is beautiful image...Nice pose, BG and bird is sharp....Even though I am not fan of square crop it works well for this image...

[Frank Schauf]

Beautiful portrait, great pose and colours.

[Robert Holguin]

Thank you all very much for all the comments. Very much appreciated.
Here is a repost with less room at the bottom, added to the right, removed the blotch under its bill, and redid the sharpening.

[Ron Sprunger]

It's a wonderful, dreamy image anyway, but the RP adds to my enjoyment. I was going to say I preferred the OP sharpening, but on closer examination, I think your second try is fine.

[Mark Itol]

Great pose, light, and shooting angle. As for sharpening, I would go for something between the original post and the repost.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I do prefer the repost, now it just needs a bit of fine tuning on the processing between the bill and neck. Beautiful individual, looks plump and healthy! I do wish for a slightly better HA though (relative to the body angle presented here). Always fun to discover new areas!