Piping Plover

Gallery: AvianPosted July 2, 201082 views12 comments

Canon 7D With EF 500mm F4 and 1.4 tc
1/1200 sec, F 9, ISO 400. From Ground Pod

I took this 3 minutes from my home at the local tern colony. This is the first piping plover shot I have taken that I am happy with. I laid on the beach and waited over an hour fielding questions from passers by to get a close range opportunity.

Plovers are a very challenged species right now. Despite this you still have people running around with bumper stickers that say "There Is A Plover Run It Over" and "Piping Plover Tastes Like Chicken". These people in their small minds feel losing a species is not as important as their "God Given Right TO Ride On The Beach". For the sake of the planet I hope these knuckleheads don't prevail!

Comments

12 comments

Comment posted by Luke Ormand on July 2, 2010 at 11:36 AM

Mike,

I love the dripping look of this bird but it's still quite underexposed (which is odd given the techs). I'd brighten this up globally and call it a day.

Registered on February 4, 2009, 1093 Posts, 7035 Comments

Comment posted by Michael Lotito on July 2, 2010 at 11:52 AM

Lightened Up a Bit.

Registered on June 26, 2009, 181 Posts, 1558 Comments

Comment posted by denise ippolito on July 2, 2010 at 11:55 AM

Very cute pose and the water adds a nice touch to the image. The lightened up repost looks great. Nicely done. Piping Plovers are one of my favorite shorebirds.

Registered on December 17, 2009, 202 Posts, 1529 Comments

Comment posted by Darren McKenna on July 2, 2010 at 12:00 PM

Wonderful image, re-post is spot on.

darrenmckenna.com

Registered on October 28, 2008, 31 Posts, 214 Comments

Comment posted by Ronnie Gaubert on July 2, 2010 at 12:21 PM

Hi Michael,
The second post is much improved. Maybe you could elaborate on this comment.
If the repost is so much better, why did you post the original dark image. You have done that on several of your recent post. Just trying to help. Maybe your monitor settings are not correct.
Ronnie G.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 810 Posts, 3495 Comments

Comment posted by Michael Lotito on July 2, 2010 at 12:23 PM

To my eye the darker images look better. That said I do work in a dark room and that could be playing tricks.

Mike

Registered on June 26, 2009, 181 Posts, 1558 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on July 2, 2010 at 1:28 PM

The original is very dark so I would make sure your monitor is calibrated and check your histogram in the field to ensure proper exposure. The repost looks much better.

Registered on February 1, 2006, 1158 Posts, 19528 Comments

Comment posted by Brian Gatlin on July 2, 2010 at 2:06 PM

Mike, I agree the repost is a big improvement and the bird looks really good. I like the water around its feet too. As for the exposure, you might try getting in the habit of moving the exposure slider around in ACR early on in your processing. Sometimes I don't notice an exposure is a little off until I move the slider and it becomes obvious.

EDIT: Mike, having looked at this again, I think I'd take some off the top to make this more of a 3:2 crop. I think the extra room on the top sort of undermines the low angle you got.

Registered on March 21, 2009, 202 Posts, 4187 Comments

Comment posted by Dan Harbour on July 2, 2010 at 3:00 PM

Repost is great, Michael. Nice pose and the water droplets add to the image. As others said, the original post looks dark to me.

Registered on January 4, 2008, 113 Posts, 2416 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Dudley on July 2, 2010 at 8:26 PM

A major improvement in the repost Michael. I like the pose and the water on the back too.

I too would like to know more about your comment. I haven't heard of this controversy though I think I can infer the basics from what you've said. If so, pretty sad - for the human race and for the plovers.

Registered on March 30, 2007, 437 Posts, 10915 Comments

Comment posted by Michael Lotito on July 3, 2010 at 8:23 AM

The major bug-a-boo people have is they don't like to see beach access restricted for the sake of this birds survival. It was determined because they are ground nesters they are vulnerable to 4X4s running the young and nests over. Also another major driver in their decline is the loss of suitable nesting habitat. Thankfully some of the local birding groups have gotten nesting areas somewhat protected.

Mike

Registered on June 26, 2009, 181 Posts, 1558 Comments

Comment posted by Mia McPherson on July 4, 2010 at 4:21 PM

Michael,

The repost is an improvement over the original image which does appear to be too dark. Looking at the exif information of your image shows that you used -0.3 EV compensation, if you had used +0.3 the image may have been just right straight out of the camera.

I love the pose with the water droplets on the bill and the bird's back, the low angle and the overall sharpness.

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