Black Turnstone

The white background really makes the head pop and the detail is superb - you can almost see a greenish/gold tint in the feathers. One of your best (which is really saying something)

Very nice Brian, I've never noticed that sheen in the field either. You handled the bright lighting perfectly imo. If you wanted to you could probably clone out some or all of those circles, but they don't bother me.

Nice, Brian. I really like the detail in this and it came out very well, particularly considering the high light. What's the white bg behind the head? I don't mind the oof water droplets, but with that bg, you could probably get away with removing them.

It definitely turned out well, for midday. The beautiful hint of mossy green in the soil is picked up beautifully in that sheen you noted. I don't think the highlights to the left are detrimental to the image. Great low angle here Brian. Excellent!!!!

Like the detail in the larger image Brian. The colours of the bird and seaweed complement each other well

cheers
Rob

Dennis, I'm pretty sure the bg here is sand. This was taken at midday, and the coast here ran east west, with the water to the south. This meant I needed to be facing more or less away from the ocean, which is a tough angle for shorebirds. So I had found some places I could sit facing in good directions, and as the tide came in, it would push shorebirds close to me. This was taken on the last of three days in the same spot, so I'd been able to develop some successful strategies for shooting at different times of day.

The tide in the Gulf of California is huge--an average tide can drop and rise 12+ feet. Here, the dropping tide had exposed all these rocks, with fairly steep slightly pinkish (as you can see in the bg) sand banks on the shore.

Brian:
I like the dark and light BG for the Black Turnstone, especially with the detail of the elements of the perch provided by the in-focus part. Wonderful detail in the bird and nice pose. It did, indeed, turn out well for the high sunlight.

The larger version really makes the detail stand out here Brian. I too appreciate the "sheen" you refer to and the circular highlights don't particularly bother me. I enjoyed reading about your shooting strategies in your second comment.

Very nice for a mid day image, you did a great job handling the bright light and I like the lower angle, well done.

Brian,

I love your great low angle and your choice of dof worked extremely well here. I also like seeing and appreciate the lovely sheen you were able to capture on the bird's feathers. The specular highlights in this image to the left of the bird do not bother me at all.

There are some whites just below and in front of the bird's wing that are hot, but they should be easy enough to correct.

I like the alert pose of the turnstone and the layers of darks & lights in the background.

Wonderful detail and setting, Brian. I like the complimentary colors too. I think you did well given the light. I would try to cool this down a bit and see how it looks.