Motif: Western sandpiper

Sweet light. The snow blanket under this sandpiper really makes this image unique.

Very nice!!

Wow Paul, this is simply wonderful. A full course of backslapping is in order.

Very cool! I'm not used to seeing waders in snow. Great light.

Sweet light. This piper looks very delicate here.

Paul
Well...this one had a surprise for me. As I was scrolling down I saw your sandpiper in gorgeous light......then I saw the snow. It was certainly not what I was expecting. Great shot...and very interesting.

Paul, Too bad about the lost nests but it sure provided some awsome photo ops! Great shot.

Very good shot and fantastic light. For me it's unusual to see a Sandpiper in snow.

Latafat

Great background, great foreground, colors and light. We are all surprised to see the snow. Even the sandpiper seems a bit confused.

aj

Paul, wonderful light, BG and the snowy perch stuff is outstanding.

Great job Paul, love the bird, BG, light and of course the snow!

BZ

An excellent shot of a great bird in wonderful light. As always, my personal prefereance would be for a more subtle, less contrasty film in non-overcast conditions (especially when pushed). As it is, to my eye it looks unaturally saturated. Don't get me wrong, its a fantastic photo!

Wonderful bird and wonderful light, saturation issues aside it is still a very nice image!!! Congrats!!

Paul,

Very nice shot. You had wonderful light for this image. The snow really makes this special.

Stunning shot Paul. The snow puts it over the top for me.

Excellent Paul. I wonder what the birds were thinking...

E.J. Peiker wrote:An excellent shot of a great bird in wonderful light. As always, my personal prefereance would be for a more subtle, less contrasty film in non-overcast conditions (especially when pushed). As it is, to my eye it looks unaturally saturated. Don't get me wrong, its a fantastic photo!

EJ -

Thanks for your comments. I always like to hear opinions, whether pro or con, after all thats one reason why we are all here.
I was careful when scanning and processing this one because of the strong color. This post matches the slide almost exactly. It actually gained a little bit of red in the posting process (it happens occassionally and I don't know why), but its still very close to the original slide (and the scene).
Velvia is a warm saturated film and its contrasty, but the sharpness and color balance is good. Its my favorite film for shorebirds in good light.
This shot was taken shortly after sunrise on the subacrtic tundra. The sun was very low and very warm, the sky was clear cobalt blue.
This is real natural light, no auto white balance, flash or pumped up PS saturation. The darker areas may have gone a bit darker than the real scene, but that is a byproduct of pushing the film and of exposing to keep detail in the white feathers.

Thanks again, EJ!

- P

A beauty, Paul. Great light and perch. Perhaps a mild magenta cast - I'm not sure.

Beautiful light Paul.