Lesser yellowlegs - first light

[allanrube]

I took this image this morning about 1/2 hour after the sun rose over the horizon, but it was the first light on the pond due to trees between the sun and the pond. Water was the way I like it - smooth.

D800 with 600 VR and 1.4tc - iso 400 - 1/250 at f/8 - wb 5200

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Allan, I like the high key effect, as it makes the colours of the yellowlegs and grass embankment pop in the image. Great pose from the yellowlegs, and nice and sharp. The water certainly is dead flat and am surprised you didnt manage a clearer reflection. I feel this needs a CW rotation. I used the eyes as a reference.

[allanrube]

Thanks Stuart. I will fix the rotation. The reflection is tougher. I looked back at all the raw files I took (a dozen) and none had a good reflection. I am not sure why.

[allanrube]

Repost - I grabbed the bird, made a new layer, rotated it, blurred it with motion blur, replaced old reflection.

[Humberto Ramos]

Hi Allan, IMO the repost is just perfect.

[Stan Cunningham]

WOW, I"m going to have to try and learn that technique, looks great.

[christopher galeski]

very nice image Allen,like the tranquil scene.well done.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Beautiful high-key (which I'm a fan of). I like the crop, and your technique for the reflection in the repost is pretty nifty :-)

[Jonathan Ashton]

The more I lokk the more I like it. I have a slight reservation over the blue colouration in the ground near the grasses. You did a good job with the reflection but I think it should be a tad less colourful, it appears about as luminous as the bird - what do you think?

[Jim Fenton]

If you have seen this exact scene where Alan and I shoot these, with the sun cresting the dunes behind you, the birds really do get this yellow glow about them.

As far as the contentment regarding the blue....I have looked with binoculars and believe it or not, you can see it. Not as pronounced as it shows up in image creations but definitely there.Only way to get rid of it is to desaturated the blues and the cyans.

Lovely image...we need to discuss the motion blur thing to fix up the reflection. Want to trade that for the bluebird location? :).

[Peter Dexter]

Sorry to go against the crowd but I think the repost looks quite plastic and contrived. I agree though that with such tranquil water the rough relection in the original post seems odd including the angle of the head.

[allanrube]

Jonathan - I did make a darker version of the reflection as you suggested. Looks better, but I am not posting it as it is so similar. The bluish on the left really was there.

Jim, perhaps I will desaturate the blue, but it doesn't really bother me.

Peter, I can understand what you are saying but the shot really should have looked something like I posted. The water was motionless and the reflection should have been very close to my image. The real one really does look bad.