One of the dippers that was cooperative on my trip. While I don’t are for the blur on the larva case, I do like the way this shows how the Dipper goes about using the larva’s own armament to grasp it. Shaking and beating against rocks seems to eventually dislodge it, though it always seemed to be a sudden release. The most I caught sticking out of the case was the head and just a bit of the body. I cropped this pretty tight because the rock on the right had a film of water on it with a horrible reflective sheen. I need to think about getting a polarizer for this lens.
What technical feedback would you like if any?
Anything. If anyone knows a good trick to handle the bright water reflections, I’d love to hear it.
What artistic feedback would you like if any?
Anything.
Pertinent technical details or techniques:
7DII, Sigma 150-600 C @ 600 mm, hand held prone on the ground, f/8, 1/320, iso 2500, manual exposure. Processed in LR & PS CC. Noise reduction with Neat Image, Cropped to 4062x2688 before resizing. Taken at 1:47 pm on September 12th under cloudy skies.
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This is a very nice shot of the dipper in its environment, doing what it does. Excellent detail in the dipper and more color variation than I recall seeing here in Oregon. You caught the flow of the water nicely as well.
This a great capture of the action. I’ve seen lots of dippers in Colorado but never saw one with food in its beak. You’ve done a good job minimizing the noise too.
It is always surprising how one part of a bird can be rock steady while another right next to it is moving so much. Excellent habitat shot of this dipper with the spraying water. I really like the pose and angle of your shot, but I think you could have gone for a slightly greater dof to get the tail also sharp. The bright reflections from the water is a little distracting, especially the one in front of the dipper - perhaps selectively lowering their brightness may make the dipper stand out even more.
I agree with Govind on this one. A little more DOF and 640th would have sharpened the bug and the tail. I like the image anyway.
I am fascinated by these dippers and really like this behavioral shot. I think you did well with the settings given the light and use of the 7D2. Nice sharp eye where it counts the most.
A nice catch for both you and the dipper, Dennis.
Wonderful action/behavioural shot, Dennis. The bird is a little bit too much to the right for me, but I love the rest of it. DOF works for me. Cheers, Hans
Dennis: this is a very fine capture of the dipper as it forages. I think a vignette or the use of the Radial Filter in LR or ACR would serve to darken the water a bit and emphasize the bird. Nicely done. Richard
Interesting behavioral image. I am always amazed at the low levels of noise you get at high ISO with the 7D2. I only go to ISO 1600 when I have to and many will be to noisy to use.
