Semipalmated Plover juvenile; Jamaica Bay NWR, NJ; August.

-- Matt Hagadorn (mhagadorn@ibm.net), September 15, 1999

Answers

Good shot, good dof, looks like you were on the ground to get this. Pat

-- pat j. krentz (krentz@cci-29palms.com), September 15, 1999.

Very nice, Matt! I know these birds are tough to get close to so I would be interested in some technical information, such as film, focal length of lens used and what technique you employed to get the little bugger close enough.

Other than possibly cropping a little tighter, this shot is a beauty!

-- Jim Erhardt (jimerhardt@hotmail.com), September 16, 1999.

Thanks for the comments. A few people asked about technique and equipment: Canon EOS 3, EF 500/4.5L + 1.4x TC, Kodak Elite Chrome Extra Color (EBX for short).

I was laying flat on my belly in the muck, Arthur Morris style (in fact, I was on a Arthur Morris photo tour). Crawling up on your belly allows you to get very close. In this case, the juvenile often came within the close focus limits of our lense.

-- Matt Hagadorn (mhagadorn@ibm.net), September 16, 1999.

Matt, very nice shot and composition. The sharp bird andthe nice clean blue background make this a keeper! Donna

-- Donna P. Bollenbach (cassidy@icubed.net), September 17, 1999.

Matt, technically almost perfect (only would remove the bokeh white spots - slightly distracting, otherwise absolutely perfect), compositionally not so (would crop tihgter), emotionally - completely neutral (I am not ornithologist nor birdwatcher). Looks like illustration from good bird handbook, beautiful BTW. Zbig.

-- Zbigniew Rybka (z.rybka@excite.com), September 17, 1999.

Real sweet. I don't think I would crop any tighter. The proportion of the bird to its environment seems fine. Crawling up on these critters does wonders to your knees and elbows. Not to mention the goose sh%t that's all around. And then when you've finally captured all that you need the hard part is getting up without dripping all that muck on lens and body. Well done!!

-- Nick Chronis (nchronis@earthlink.net), September 18, 1999.