Purple Sandpiper -- Barnegat, NJ

I love the perch. The water drop is icing on this wonderful cake.

Very nice.

The dark BG really gives this image a unique touch. The water drop on the beak and the mussel colony for a perch are excellent as well. No nits from me. Well done! Frost-what?....

cheers, Oliver

The black BG and drop of water on bill make this a stand out shot IMO.

Brian,

It sounds qwfully cold. Great detail and love the mussels. A little more head turn would have helped. Stil a neat image.

Jim

Brian, A totally superb image!!! Great light showing feather details and perch to perfection!!! I do love it!!

Would youl please take that distracting blue out of the water drop....kidding..very kewl capture....

Cheers,

Excellent image Brian, great detail in the feathers and unique perch and BG - water drop a bonus!!

Very, very nice.

Brian, I'm not a lover of black BG's but this does make the bird pop. Love the perch.

Very nice! I really like the perch of what appears to be mussels. I'd prefer the head not be turned away but we don't always get what we want. The blue water drop really adds to the image but it also begs the question of what the black BG is.

Alan Melle wrote:Very nice! I really like the perch of what appears to be mussels. I'd prefer the head not be turned away but we don't always get what we want. The blue water drop really adds to the image but it also begs the question of what the black BG is.

The black BG is the Jetty at Barnegat Light. There happened to be this one spot where to very large rocks formed an opening (like a little cave) and the space between the openning was very dark. About 5 to 8 feet in front of that were some rocks covered in green gunk and mussels. SandPipers would work the foreground rocks and so I placed myself where the framing centered on the mini cave.

I am not sure how I like black backgrounds but thought I would try the shot and see how it turned out.
From a post a few days ago I might as an excercise in PS try and change the BG color to blue and see how it looks. If I do I'll repost for comparison.

Brian
I think the black BG works well here. Very nice job on this guy. Amazing that both bird and photography could survive the harsh weather. I'd love to have been there but no way could I have taken the cold.

I recognize this bird! These sandpipers are so great. I like the different look of the black background, too. Nicely done.

An excellent shot - I sure had fun shooting these guys and they are so incredibly tame!

Brian,

This is a very nice shot. I like the dark background and the mussel perch. A little head turn back toward you would make it even better.

BrianS wrote:

Alan Melle wrote:Very nice! I really like the perch of what appears to be mussels. I'd prefer the head not be turned away but we don't always get what we want. The blue water drop really adds to the image but it also begs the question of what the black BG is.

The black BG is the Jetty at Barnegat Light. There happened to be this one spot where to very large rocks formed an opening (like a little cave) and the space between the openning was very dark. About 5 to 8 feet in front of that were some rocks covered in green gunk and mussels. SandPipers would work the foreground rocks and so I placed myself where the framing centered on the mini cave....

Makes sense! That blue drop said blue sky somewhere so I just wondered. Given the BG you did a great job on the exposure.

A winning image right down to the water droplet!

The perch is great and I love the little feather details. I personally, don't mind the black BG.