Young Roseate Spoonbill Soaking Up The Light

[Daniel Cadieux]

Photographed while wading in three feet of water along Alafia Banks in Tampa Bay, Florida (via the Hooptie Deux - thanks Captain Shadle!). Awesome experience as spoonbills fly overhead, pelicans bathe close by, cormorants, ibises, herons and egrets perch in the mangroves with babies begging for food, stingrays swimming feet away from my position, and mullets (the fish, not the hairstyle) jumping out of the water...couldn't ask for any better way to spend a day photographing Florida's wildlife!!

Canon 7D + 100-400L @365mm, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/2000s., f/6.3, ISO 400 (histogram checked), natural light, handheld, FF, one twig shooting straight up from beside the left foot (our right) patched/cloned out (I left a little "stubby"), as well as one shooting straight down from the middle of the curve down to the edge.

[Karl Egressy]

Nice head turn, excellent details, Daniel. I guess you have to have a boat to go out there, or a friend with a boat.

[Randy Stout]

Daniel:

A sweet little fellow, like the pink bill, soft light, pose.

I generally am fine with vertical images more centered that horizontal ones, but could see this with a smidge off the right side.

Cheers

Randy

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Nice light and a great perch. I like the feet hanging on as well. I like the comp but am wishing for no shadow on the eye.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Nice light and a great perch. I like the feet hanging on as well. I like the comp but am wishing for no shadow on the eye.

Thanks guys! Cheryl, what you are seeing is the actual blue colour of the lores of the juveniles...there is no shadow there

[arash_hazeghi]

Very nice pose and details and a good perch. I'd brighten the image by 1/3 stops. nice details too

[christopher galeski]

excellent image,great details,love the BG,and perch.well done.

[gail bisson]

This is lovely Daniel. The comp and light and head position are excellent. No nits from me,
Gail

[Dumay de Boulle]

Lovely pose and the IQ is awesome especially like the detail in the legs...Nice one Daniel!

[rajojomanik]

Nice lighting, perch and IQ . I like it that the light seems stronger on the upper part of the bird.

[Frank Schauf]

Beautiful portrait, great details, a great shot.

[Jim Crosswell]

Excellent image Daniel! I like the pose, sharpness and details. I like Randys comp suggestion.

[Shawn Zierman]

Great light quality and solid technical work.
Lovely portrait. Subject placement works well imo.
Your words regarding the scene leave a nice image
in my head too.