Maria Small  


The Elegant and Graceful American Avocet by Maria Small

February 2025 - The Elegant and Graceful American Avocet

February 2025 - Maria Small

Original

About the Image(s)

The Elegant and Graceful American Avocet
I took this image of an American Avocet at the San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary in Irvine, California in June of last year. It was an overcast mid-morning (June gloom) but there was
sufficient light, and the water in the pond was very still and I could see the mirror like reflec when I took several shots of this bird. It was my first time to spot American Avocets and wa
fascinated with how they were sweeping their long bills from side to side in the water. How I wished I could have gotten closer to these elegant looking and graceful birds but couldn’t.
They have very strict rules to protect the wildlife.
Shot the image with my Sony A7III. Settings were F6.3, 1/1000 s, ISO 640 , at 378 mm.
I did a huge crop in Adobe Photoshop, then used ACR to adjust the exposure, contrast and vibrance. I brightened the background and adjusted the color of the water. Among the images I captured, this is my favorite because of how the bird seems to have posed for me.
Looking forward to your comments and suggestions.


1 comment posted




Richard Goldenberg   Richard Goldenberg
Maria - I love this image and perhaps sadly have no suggestions for improving it. My one question is whether you've done other crops of the same image. I love seeing the bird and its reflection but also wonder if the same original would serve for an enlarged image of the Avocet without the reflection. Another bizarre thing I might have tried had this been my image is flipping it vertically and presenting just the reflected bird. The posted original was too low res for producing a good version of this, but I posted here a low res version of what I mean. It's surreal and perhaps is not of interest, but there can be something eye-catching about seeing the somewhat distorted reflection presented as if it were the original.   Posted: 02/05/2025 02:52:02
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