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Masked Lapwing


Masked Lapwing
Photo Information
Copyright: John Plumb (JPlumb) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 637 W: 166 N: 889] (2884)
Genre: Animals
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2007-01-31
Categories: Birds
Camera: Nikon D200, NIKKOR AF-S 18-200mm F3.5-5.6 ED DX VR
Exposure: f/8, 1/350 seconds
More Photo Info: [view]
Photo Version: Original Version, Workshop
Date Submitted: 2007-06-17 19:33
Viewed: 753
Points: 22
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
This is a panned shot of the Masked Lapwing, a type of Plover, common in Eastern Australia. I was on a ferry at the time of this shot, so had a decent position on him with the water as the background.

You often see these birds with their very distinctive “Groucho Marx” look in urban parks, tidal mud flats, or wading in shallow water around Sydney. On land they don’t look to be the most comfortable of birds, with their long legs, but they are great fliers. At night they are one of the louder birds on the water.

They feed on insects and their larvae, mollusks and earthworms.

Breeding can be at any time when conditions suit. Both sexes share the building of the nest which is a simple scrape in the ground of the ground cover (see workshop). Both sexes also incubate the eggs and care for the young. The young are able to leave the nest a few hours after hatching.

As with other Plovers these birds are notorious for defense of their nest sites. The adults will dive on intruders, or act as though they have a broken wing to draw an intruder away from the nest.

Much of this from: http://www.amonline.net.au/factsheets/masked_lapwing.htm
ID from: Simpson K. and Day N. (2004), Field Guide to the Birds of Australia, Penguin Books, Camberwell.

Workflow was as follow:
Shot in Raw - NEF files adjusted for exposure and shadow
Adjusted levels
Adjusted curves
Adjusted curves on bird selection
Reduced noise on water selection
Dodged and burned with overlay layer (5% opacity brush)
Added a layer for sharpening (with selection on bird) and “over-sharpened” with USM
Modified sharpening with a layer mask (15% opacity black brush)
Saved as a tiff
For this post, cropped, and re-applied sharpening with Smart Sharpen (very slight), framed, and saved as a jpeg
blakitan, pablominto, gracious, mlines, mvdisco, pierrefonds has marked this note useful
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Critiques [Translate]

Hi John,
Superbly capturing this flying lapwing. Very nicely composed picture too!

BL

Hello John,
Good in-flight capture!
The bird is well exposed, effective freeze and fine details...
Well composed presentation with the water background, good colour palette!
Greetings,
Pablo -

:-) OK-

Hello John,
good motion photo with sharpness, clarity and colour on the subject against the water!!
well done, John
TFS
cheers
Tony

Hi John,
I have tried to capture a decent image of a Plover but as yet I have been unsucessful. You have done well to capture one in flight, a skill I have not really attempt seriously as yet. Your image is wonderfully sharp and the detail of the bird can be seen quite well. Nice.
Cheers,
Debbie

Hi John. Excellent composition of this flying bird. Well arranged and very sharp. tfs. Murray.

Bonjour John ,
Good catch on fly on the lapwing, excellent POV. and sharpness picture, good colors, well done..
Michel

  • Great 
  • Ken52 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 640 W: 98 N: 1241] (4189)
  • [2007-06-18 12:03]

Hi John,
I expect this is a difficult bird to photograph. I think you have done well. There is good sharpness on the bird and the exposure is excellent. TFS.
Ken

  • Great 
  • GLEM Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 526 W: 87 N: 697] (6115)
  • [2007-06-19 7:45]

salut John
très bonne image saisie en plein vol, la vitesse est subtilement restituée. Excellente netteté, symétrie agréable.
bravo

gl

  • Great 
  • arfer Gold Star Critiquer [C: 2731 W: 0 N: 0] (0)
  • [2007-06-19 10:05]

Hello John

Very good BIF shot with a nice composition.The colours are rich and vivid.The shot has a nice relaxed atmosphere too it.TFS


Rob

Hello John,
Thumbnail doen't do this fantastic image justice. I am quite impressed with the clarity and sharpness of the overall image. You manage to freeze the image with great results. :)

Hi John,

A nice image of the Masked Lapwing, the photo has a good composition, sharpness and nice colors. Thanks for sharing.

Pierre

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