Canon 1D4
500mm +1.4x
Lying flat on beach, using Skimmer Pod
1/2500
ISO 400
f/8.0
Taken early one morning last weekend on the north shore of MA, during a Shoot the Light workshop I took with Mike Milicia. Rajan Desai and Gail Bisson were also in the workshop. We had a fantastic time. Great weather, company, and truly wonderful teaching by Mike. He is patient, thorough, and immensely knowledgeable about exposure and flash. I worked in manual much of the time, which was new for me (and sorely overdue). He took us to a beautiful beach that had many least terns and piping plovers. Sadly many of the nests and young had been lost the week before to a storm, but we were able to find a family of piping plovers that we got to spend some time with.
Here is a piping plover chick scurrying towards the water. I liked leaving it fairly small in the frame to give a sense of its tininess in the big expanse of the beach. I also got a frame where both feet are off the ground that I really like, but I also love this one with its sense of "just taking off." Curious to know what people think of the composition. I wanted to leave the whole shadow in.
Some crop, brought up exposure a bit, cloned out a twig and some dust bunnies. Sharpening, but tried not to be careful to oversharpen, as these little ones are soft fluffballs. NR on background.
Thank you so much for any comments and critiques.
Melissa! Forgive the non-critique and let me tell you instead that the warmth and sweetness and elegance of this shot, well, all these things are coming together to make my heart happy. I really like this. Actually, I adore it. Thanks for sharing. If this shot were mine, after I was finished kissing people, I'd make a nice print of this and give it to my grade 5 english teacher, if I could track her down. She was a life-changing sweetheart and she'd love a shot like this!
Nicely done Melissa. These chicks are fast and are not easy to track. you have done extremely well in getting this running action. Light is awesome. I like that catchlight in the eye. Personally I like the comp. having that shadow in the frame certainly makes sense.
Rajan
Hi Melissa,
This is lovely. The light is awesome and I like the pose and how tiny he is in the frame.
No one has mentioned this but I see a blotch of darker tone an inch above and the tail. ? dustbunny. Also dust bunny LUC. Easy fixes!
You got him with a catchlight too. Well done,
Gail
Cute and sharp--a great job on that--with a perfect exposure. I can live with the centered subject placement as the shadow balances the COMP. My wish is that the chick were angling slightly towards you rather than slightly away.
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hahahahaha...love it !!! Normally I would think too central, but the shadow is all important in this amazing image so very good call on position in the frame...did I mention I love this shot hehehe...a feel good image indeed
Too cute, and I suspect this pose is stronger than the one fully in the air that you mention. I like the comp too. Was the beach slightly sloped at that spot?
Piping Plover Chick Takes Off
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