Black-winged Stilt

[loose cannon]

Chopped the legs off but couldn't be helped. I think you can get away with it sometimes if you leave enough room for the virtual legs if you know what I mean.

Initially I was waiting for the bird to move away from the little plant but the longer I looked through the viewfinder the more I liked having the plant in the composition so this is what I ended up with.

Decided on a 16:9 crop to lose some of the sky but maintain the width.

[pauld]

Nice shot what lense??

[loose cannon]

Cheers Paul.

7D with 100-400mm

[Alan]

I also think that the plant adds something. Maybe a tad soft - heat haze?

[loose cannon]

More likely old eyes working on a lappy Alan.

No heat haze at all and only a small crop.

Thanks for pointing it out, I'll pay more attention in future. Sharpening is the one aspect of processing I don't enjoy anymore.

[Isac]

Very good angle Mick, did it take you long to get up again? Love the contrasting colours and you're right about the leg thing. If you set up a few different sharpening actions and use a new layer you can make them very subtle and slide to suit OR just delete the layer. Photoshop has very good sharpening tools. Lately, I've been using subtle edge sharpening and it works well - just sayin'.

[loose cannon]

Actually I had to get down, not up. I captured this while on my roof rack. The bird is on a rock wall surrounding a poo farm and there's a 2 metre fence in the way plus I'm parked in a deep gutter.

And yes, it did take me a while to get back down.

Last time I dismounted the roof rack quickly was quite a painful experience, fortunately the ground broke my fall.

Thanks for the sharpening tips Isac, appreciated. I think my error here might relate more to the noise reduction I applied.

Usually I use a mask to remove NR from the bird but I didn't on this occasion.

A friend of mine has a very good monitor and I plan to have a look at some of my images on it in the next few days just to see where I'm going wrong.

I'm not a happy camper at the moment with NR and sharpening as I appear to be all over the shop. Losing my good Dell monitor has caused me some grief.

I'm open to suggestions re a good monitor at a reasonable price if anyone has some good tips.

[Isac]

Thanks for giving me the low down on the shooting angles and technique Mick. All sounds too hard for me. I will admit though, that I do use a ladder now and then - especially at weddings.
I use this freeware for noise reduction from Colormancer. Its easy and very classy - does a great job.
Here's a good start for a monitor. I use an Asus IPS panel and would never again use an LED monitor. The difference between IPS and TN is amazing. I don't know your budget but they are half the price now to when I got mine.

[P Plates]

Thanks for the link for the monitor. I was thinking we should buy one to attach to the laptop before our next trip.

[Isac]

They are available so you've probably already seen them. I think P Plates is saving her pennies to get one. No excuses then, for not PPP. (Posting Perfect Pics)

[P Plates]

What we go through to get the shot - I too would have assumed you were lying on the ground. Good shot and I like the little shrub.