The East Pond

[Arthur Morris]

• SONY ILCE-1
• FE 600mm F4 GM OSS + 1.4X Teleconverter
• ƒ/5.6
• 840mm
• 1/800s
• ISO 1000
• Arthur Morris
• Flash not fired
• Wed, 10 August 2022 7:24 AM
• BIRDS AS ART
• ILCE-1 v1.30

With the water levels perfect at the East Pond at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in Queens, NY, my original soul place, photography was excellent throughout the month of August. This image was created on 10 August 2022 at the East Pond, Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. Queens, NY. Again, while sitting on wet mud, I used the flattened, no-longer available except from BIRDS AS ART, Induro GIT 304L tripod/Levered-Clamp FlexShooter Pro-mounted Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens with the Sony FE 1.4x Teleconverter (at 840mm) with The One, the Sony a1 Mirrorless Camera. The exposure was determined via Zebras with ISO on the Thumb Wheel. ISO 1000: 1/800 sec. at f/5.6. AWB at 7:24:08am on a variably cloudy morning.
Tracking: Spot S/AF-C with Bird Eye/Face Detection performed perfectly all morning long by accurately tracking the birds’ eyes (as long as the birds were not moving quickly, filling the whole frame, or turning their heads away). Learn more about the creation of this image in the So What Exactly Is a Good Bird? The East Pond Shines! blog post here.

All comments will be greatly appreciated. Going forward, you comment on my image, I'll be glad to comment on yours.

with love, artie

 

[Daniel Cadieux]

Oh boy, we rarely get that many amount of shorebirds in one spot over here! We really get a sense of the place when it's hopping. Fun to try to make out some plovers in the BG, as well as at least one peep. I'd surely take out the brighter speck just beneath the two leftmost yellowlegs, but to me all else really hits the mark. Such a fun frame to study.

 

[Joseph Przybyla]

Hi Artie, I agree with Dan regarding the amazing amount of shorebirds captured in the image. I can only image what the image does not show. The East Pond must be wonderful when water levels are optimum. A lot to look at in the image, the processing looks spot on. Thank you for sharing, a joy to look at.

 

[Paul Burdett]

Hi Artie. Always so nice to see something a little "different"...quite an artistic image in my view. Love the interplay between the in focus bird and the oof ones. Overall a serene/calming atmosphere here and I love the green BG and smooth water. There are two small round bright spots in the lower right corner beneath the two oof birds that I'd remove, in addition to the one Daniel mentions.

 

[Steve Kaluski]

Being at almost eye level to the main bird is key for me and the top have containing OOF inflight birds add context to how busy the location is. I think having the two birds on the LHS looking almost towards camera also adds. The few HL specs I'm 50/50 on but removing them offers a cleaner look/feel, but it's the tip of the main wing poking up and being so bright, just draws my eye. I might however lose the vertical wing on the top trim, but you may feel Artie the space is too much without it?

TFS
Steve

 

[Randy Stout]

Artie:

Love the story telling aspect, POV, colors. Yes to clean up a few water spots, and the errant feather on top of the birds back. Great that you got to reconnect with your home turf.

Randy

 

[William Dickson]

Very nice Artie....Brilliant POV...The BG with all birds flying in the same direction and flight pose, looks real good....and adds to the scene....Only thing I would change would be to remove the two birds from behind the bill of the main attraction.....

Will

 

[Jonathan Ashton]

• SONY ILCE-1
• FE 600mm F4 GM OSS + 1.4X Teleconverter
• ƒ/5.6
• 840mm
• 1/800s
• ISO 1000
• Arthur Morris
• Flash not fired
• Wed, 10 August 2022 7:24 AM
• BIRDS AS ART
• ILCE-1 v1.30

I appreciate I may well be out of consensus here but the colours look a little strange to me, I have attached a revised colour version, please let me know if I am way out.

 

[Brian Sump]

Artie, good stuff bringing something different. I found the overall composition quite striking especially considering you were able to make the main subject really pop.

For me, a no brainer to remove the white specs. Also, it seems Jon's [warming] did improve the overall feel IMO.

Curious - RE rotation, what did you base level off of? Wake makes it feel as though it could benefit from a touch of CW to my eyes but the blue line goes the opposite way.

 

[arash_hazeghi]

I like this image, with the original framing and colors, but, I would get rid of the two YL's behind the main subject that are closer to the focus plane, they are distracting IMHO as they are not OOF enough to blend in well with the rest of the BG/image

TFS