Horseshoe crabs are making an early arrival this year at our local beach (Long Island Sound) and along with them come the sanderlings. At this beach when the tide recedes, it makes interesting little mounds. I positioned my camera so as to focus on the edge of one, and hoped for a bird to pass by. Got lucky.Light was very flat so I used a bit of fill. DId far more to this image in post than I normally do: added a bit of canvas on the left, removed part of a sanderling up top, levels, brightness, tonal contrast and slight detail extraction. I felt that the feet position of the bird made it worth it.
Thanks for looking and for your comments, I appreciate them all.
An otherwise straight-ahead image of a pretty bird is taken into the realm of heart-warming art b/c of the greys-on-greys, upward-sloping diagonal line and wonderfully crunchy bits 'neath the festive sanderling. Hence: I like this picture! If the expression "no nits" didn't vex me so much, I'd surely say that to you now!
Thank you both Jim and Jack. Been meaning to say to you, Jack, how fun it is to read your written words. You have a unique and expressive way of sharing your thoughts.
Grace, that's an awfully nice thing to say. Many thanks. If my bird and camera knowledge were only as elevated, I could have been the premier of Ontario or governor of New York by now. I won't lie to you: I envy you your magnificent shorebirds. No access to the beautiful angels around here and what's worse: I am carless. And too often careless! I shouldn't complain. Especially not here on your thread, or post; it's the wrong forum entirely. Mea maxima culpa. I love this picture, keep them coming, thanks again...
Nice pose. I like the uphill run!
I would wish for a little more head turn -- to me it looks like its slightly away from you.
One question though -- Grace, I'm seeing an unnatural diagonal sharp line in front of the bird where it looks like you are sharply transitioning from a blurred foreground and where you start seeing sharper sand grains.
Normally we wouldn't see such a sharp falloff in DOF (and don't behind the bird).
Is this an effect of your selecting and blurring the foreground?
If thats the case, I suggest a graduated mask on the blurred layer to merge the two regions.
Hi Don,
THe foreground and line of sand are straight out of camera. I did no selective blurring. As I study this, I think that I know what you are seeing. The water rushing out creates rivulets, some leaving depressions as much as a foot high. I had lowered my camera so that it was close to parallel with the top of the hill and the blurred foreground is just that, not caused at all by dof but by the foreground itself, sand. My own body was positioned actually below ground level for this shot (although I was not buried, I was just taking advantage of the contour of the land caused by the receding tide) and the camera body and lens just grazing the top. I hope that I've explained this correctly. (Hard to put in writing, I could draw it better) As for the head angle, he's looking right at me, and his beak is turned slightly toward me, so I don't see the problem. Explain further....
Last edited by Grace Scalzo; 05-08-2012 at 02:15 PM.
Reason: Spelling
Hi Grace,
I really like this one! The tippy-toe back foot is what I really like. Excellent exposure and great SS because these guys are soooo fast. The whites are perfect.
Gail
Thanks everyone. Don, glad you understood what I was trying to say...struggled to get that into words! I've done a couple images like this, kind of rare that it actually works.
I like this image a lot. The incline in the sand is great ,the low shooting angle is terrific. Well done on these little speedsters. Not an easy shot to capture.
I'd say you nailed this one. The flash work added some nice snap. The extreme low angle really
puts us in the sanderlings world. I like the breeding plumage coming in too. The positioning of the
feet and the way they are posed is sweeeeet!
Sanderling on tip toes
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