Spent a good amount of time with this red knot. It foraged on a jetty for a while and eventually came within MFD on the beach.
In post, I cropped in a bit, sharpened the bird, and reduced noise on the BG. All C&C welcome.
Techs:
D850
500mm f/4 AF-S II, handheld
ISO 640
1/1250
f/5
Nice look at this shorebird. Good job on the head plumage and focus. I think you’re slightly out of focus in the body and I believe the brighter tones could be reduced by half to one stop. Maybe a decrease in highlights. That would bring out the natural morning warmth of this image.
Thanks. I was interested in how those edits might turn out. I ran a curves adjustment where I first decreased the highlights a bit, then I darkened the darkest shadows, and finished by raising the midtones. It resulted in more contrast but better tones throughout, I think.
Getting this close gives you the opportunity to frame enormous detail, which comes out nicely. Technically I like the repost better. Composition wise it’s a little stuck between a rock and a hard place for me. If feels like I’m missing part of the bird. As you have enough pixels I assume, I would try for a more aggressive crop, for example like this
. Not sure yet though … Anyway, it must have been a thrill having the bird so close to you ! Cheers, HansI like the reprocessed tones, Lyle and Hans’ crop seems to be going int he right direction, though I think I’d bring the sides in a bit more. I love the detail and the little top knot.
Much more appealing!
IQ is better on the repost… lovely low angle.
Nice light on the bird and good job on the low angle. I like the crop suggestion from Hans. In that crop the brighter warmer bird is well back stopped by the darker cooler bg. Looks really good.
Nice pose with the bill open and the curve of the leg and the feather sticking out. I prefer the larger version.
