American Oystercatcher - Little Estero Lagoon

Posted by Parrothead Pete on Thu May 20, 2004 9:50 pm

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I purposely spend my family vacations within walking distance of the Little Estero Lagoon in Fort Myers. I shot this Oystercatcher last Sunday about an hour before sunset. The clouds had just let up and gave me some incredible light. It was not until I got these pictures back that I noticed all the bands on the bird's legs.

Canon EOS 3 w/Canon 400 5.6L w/Hoya 81B; w/Canon 1.4X TC II; Gitzo 1227 with ultimate ballhead; 1/750 @ f/8; 550EX with bb. Cropped from 4x6 into 4x5. Shot on Kodak E-100VS pushed 1 stop. (Man this place is muddy

)

"There are no other Everglades in the world. They are, they have always been, one of the unique regions of the earth; remote, never wholly known. Nothing anywhere else is like them..." - Marjory Stoneman Douglas

Last edited by Parrothead Pete on Thu May 20, 2004 9:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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by bbart on Thu May 20, 2004 9:57 pm

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Hi Pete,

Lovely bird.Whites are a little hot.Beautiful bill colors.

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by Alan Murphy on Thu May 20, 2004 10:15 pm

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Pete, the white are completely blown. If you can get them back it would complete this awesome shot in some lovely green water.

Alan Murphy
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by Parrothead Pete on Thu May 20, 2004 10:30 pm

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here's with some PS adjustments of shadow/highlights and curves....

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by Jill on Thu May 20, 2004 11:03 pm

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I do prefer the repost, Pete !! Feel this poor baby has been overbanded.

No fault of yours, however.

Jill Rosenfield

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by LHays on Fri May 21, 2004 4:16 am

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Pete
Youre repost is much better. What a treat it must be to spend your vacation next to Little Estero Lagoon. I'm with Jill on the bands.

Lana Hays
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by Juan E. Bahamon on Fri May 21, 2004 7:04 am

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Pete:

I like the repost but I think is still a little overexposed, when the black feathers beging to have a brown appearance is beter to back off.

Juan E. Bahamon
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by Bill Whala on Fri May 21, 2004 8:07 am

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An extremely difficult subject to expose correctly. I'm thinking this would have had a better contrast range on Sensia or the Kodak equivalent (I'm drawing a blank on its name

) rather than the pushed 100VS.

Great job filling the frame with this guy!!

Bill Whala

"Aves of similar plumage tend to converge with one another"

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by Parrothead Pete on Fri May 21, 2004 8:12 am

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Bill, I think you're thinking of Elite Chrome....It was very overcast and drizzled when I went to shoot on this day so I used the VS film and pushed it to get more speed. I have regularly been using the E-200.

Ironically, the sun broke through when I taken this. I have some Oystercatcher shots taken under the cloudy skies which are better exposed, but not as close as I got to get to this one. I'll post it in a few days. They are very skittish even for the Estero Lagoon.

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by Michael Wolf on Fri May 21, 2004 9:03 am

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Pete,

I prefer the repost as well.
I have never seen bands on these birds before !

Nice Capture.

Thanks for sharing,
Michael W.

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by fredcor on Fri May 21, 2004 9:18 am

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Lovely image with the repost. The bird and green water are fabulous.

Frederick Lat Correa

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by Bob Boner on Fri May 21, 2004 10:22 am

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Nice pose and composition. The repost is better but the whites are still pretty hot and the leg color is lost. Thanks for sharing.

Bob Boner

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by Mike Wilson on Fri May 21, 2004 11:48 am

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You had a difficult situation to get everything exposed correctly Pete. The dark bg and the bright white belly is trouble enough but add sunlight, flash used, and pushed film and the odds are against you. It is a nice image and the bands are interesting to see.

Mike Wilson
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