Jumping for Joy

[Bill Dix]

I spotted this juvenile Sanderling at the tip of Sandy Hook the other day, bathing in a tide pool. I watched and photographed as he went through his ablutions, sure that at some point he would take an after-bath jump. When after many minutes he folded his wings and walked toward me out of the pool, I decided he wasn't going to jump; I was about to give up when he suddenly sprang into action. Although I was ready for him, it still surprised me how much he filled the frame. I added a sliver of canvas on three sides.

D500, Sigma 150-600 @ 600 mm; ISO 2000, 1/2500s @ f/7.1 manual.

[Isaac Grant]

Very pretty take off shot. Nice angle against a clear background. I don't think the image quality is up to your usual standards. Specifically the chest and belly look a bit flat.

[Arthur Morris]

Not the greatest image quality but I would love to have this one in my files. My reflexes are not on a par with yours!

For my repost I carefully selected the bird with the Quick Selection and Lasso Tools, applied my NIK CEP 30-30 recipe, selected and sharpened only the face and part of the neck with a Contrast Mask (15/65/0) , and lastly lightened the selectively sharpened area (that had been put on its own layer). Better or worser?

with love, artie

[Mike Poole]

I'm surprised this hasn't attracted more comments Bill, I think its a really dynamic well timed shot. Artie RP adds a little extra, but the shooting angle, the wing blur, falling droplets and perfect BG make this a winner for me

Mike

[Bill Dix]

Thanks Mike.