Sanderling

Gallery: AvianPosted March 9, 201061 views7 comments

Canon 7D, 500mm f/4 + 1.4x TC. Monopod, sitting.

1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 400. -2/3 EC.

Crop from horizontal to vertical (to 45% or 8.0 of 18MP).

I have more or less finished working my way through my files from my late Feb trip and am definitely happy with the results. I think I got keepers of close to 30 species--not bad for a week. I'm learning a lot processing that many images too. This one I processed twice, warming it up and getting more detail out of the whites than the first time around.

This was rather difficult light (and a difficult species to shoot in difficult light). For me this shot is all about the pose, which seems so graceful and elegant to me. I love the dynamics of the shot--the motion and the left foot crossed over in front of the right, with the head turn back to the (bird's) left.

I have definitely gotten enough shorebird shots in on this trip to start to really understand and appreciate the patented "Mia low angle approach." On this trip, I was willing to get down and sit in the gunk and water, but didn't do any laying down. Next time I'll be laying in the water!

Comments and critiques appreciated. Please view larger version if possible.

Comments

7 comments

Comment posted by Rob Drummond on March 10, 2010 at 5:16 AM

Like the way you've positioned this to one side Brian. Might be tempted to remove a little of the oof foreground and a bit at the top to compensate. Very nice shot,

cheers
Rob

Registered on November 8, 2003, 617 Posts, 8267 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Balke on March 10, 2010 at 8:09 AM

Very nice, Brian. We still see detail in the shadows as well as in the whites. I agree, the pose is great. In examining this image I happened to see it as a square crop on my screen with the OOF stuff removed on the bottom and some top background removed too. It looked better to me: as though the bird was walking out of the screen!

Registered on June 18, 2009, 229 Posts, 2915 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Bielefeld on March 10, 2010 at 8:55 AM

This is nice and low Brian. I also like the light. I am with you on the pose. Very appealing to me. I also like the richness of the colors in the fore and middle ground areas. I agree with taking a bit off the bottom and top. Otherwise, this is a great comp and overall image.

Registered on December 6, 2008, 360 Posts, 7132 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on March 10, 2010 at 9:57 AM

I like the angle on this, Brian, and the pose. For my taste, more dof would have been nice here as the massive oof foreground is a bit distracting.

Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments

Comment posted by Satie Sharma on March 11, 2010 at 4:09 AM

Very nice pose and setting, Brian. I agree with the crop suggestions.

Registered on November 11, 2003, 189 Posts, 5335 Comments

Comment posted by Craig Strand on March 11, 2010 at 8:05 AM

I love the comp and light on your capture Brian, thanks for the info as well.

Registered on March 30, 2008, 416 Posts, 2885 Comments

Comment posted by Mia McPherson on March 12, 2010 at 8:33 AM

Brian,

I am behind on commenting lately, forgive my slowness in commenting on your Sanderling.

I love the graceful pose you caught, a moment of stillness from a species that loves to scurry as often as possible along the water's edge. I also appreciate the side lighting you have here with the shadowed side still having plenty of visible detail. I love the low angle and the water in the background.

I won't tell you to take off 1.5 inches off the bottom because everyone's screen resolution varies and so does the size of an image on the screen, thus it is far more accurate to suggest a crop in pixels. I would crop about 115 pixels of of your 1200 x 800 pixel image, which would minimize but not altogether remove the OOF vegetation at the bottom.

Love the color combinations in this image and the beautiful, almost wistful look of the sanderling.

Registered on June 25, 2007, 491 Posts, 12566 Comments