Stilt Sip

Shot this a couple summers ago when I had great access to a large flock of black-necked stilts. In post, I cropped a bit for composition, leveled the image, ran slight curves and levels adjustments, sharpened the bird, and reduced noise on the BG. All C&C welcome.

Technical Details

Is this a composite: No
D850
700mm (probably from a tripod)
ISO 800
1/2500
f/7.1

@lylegrubyphotography
1 Like

Beautiful image Lyle. Love water drops and reflection. Very nice pose and fine details on the bird.

Lovely image. I can’t find anything to improve upon!

Excellent depth of field and point of view in this image. The stilt stands out beautifully against the greenish water. Great job on the composition.

Wonderful catch! Not a huge issue but I wonder if there is a touch more detail in the whites? I also have an itch to crop a little off the right and add a little to the bottom, and then conceal the two areas of brighter water there – maybe just with some low opacity cloning.

The pose and the splashes make the image, their typical behaviour captured excellently ! Best, Hans