Lets see your waders

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Here you can share photos of wading birds and tips to photograph them. I will start with photos of the only wader I have photographed the lapwing(Vanellus vanellus). Any tips on how to improve these photos?

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Nice shots.

Any tips on how to improve these photos?
Great job on those, but in terms of tips or things to think about:

- Whenever possible try to get down to eye level instead of shooting down on ground or water level birds. That's often not an option, but sometimes it just means kneeling down or lowering the tripod so if it's possible it's worth the effort. It gives a much nicer angle and tends to separate the bird better from its background making it pop. The first shot looks to have a lower shooting angle though it might just be farther away but the separation in the top half of the image is what you can often get by getting down low to shoot or shooting from farther back with a longer lens to flatten out the shooting angle.

- Even though the feet are obscured by the grass in the lower photo it's best to include where the feet would be rather than chop them off mid-leg.

- I'd probably give that second shot more breathing room and include a little more environment.

Those really are nice shots but since you requested tips, those are things that come to mind.
 
Nice shots.


Great job on those, but in terms of tips or things to think about:

- Whenever possible try to get down to eye level instead of shooting down on ground or water level birds. That's often not an option, but sometimes it just means kneeling down or lowering the tripod so if it's possible it's worth the effort. It gives a much nicer angle and tends to separate the bird better from its background making it pop. The first shot looks to have a lower shooting angle though it might just be farther away but the separation in the top half of the image is what you can often get by getting down low to shoot or shooting from farther back with a longer lens to flatten out the shooting angle.

- Even though the feet are obscured by the grass in the lower photo it's best to include where the feet would be rather than chop them off mid-leg.

- I'd probably give that second shot more breathing room and include a little more environment.

Those really are nice shots but since you requested tips, those are things that come to mind.
Thank you very much.
 
Nice shots.


Great job on those, but in terms of tips or things to think about:

- Whenever possible try to get down to eye level instead of shooting down on ground or water level birds. That's often not an option, but sometimes it just means kneeling down or lowering the tripod so if it's possible it's worth the effort. It gives a much nicer angle and tends to separate the bird better from its background making it pop. The first shot looks to have a lower shooting angle though it might just be farther away but the separation in the top half of the image is what you can often get by getting down low to shoot or shooting from farther back with a longer lens to flatten out the shooting angle.

- Even though the feet are obscured by the grass in the lower photo it's best to include where the feet would be rather than chop them off mid-leg.

- I'd probably give that second shot more breathing room and include a little more environment.

Those really are nice shots but since you requested tips, those are things that come to mind.
An the second shot is not cropped at all. I was just too close. But hey you have to remember those things in the field.
 
A few from our summer here in Oz

Red-capped Plover (local species)
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Bar-tailed Godwit (migratory)
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Australian Pied Oystercatcher (local species)
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Pacific Golden Plover - Full breeding colour, this was a matter of weeks before they left our shores to head north for the breeding season (migratory)
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Far Eastern Curlew (migratory)
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Ok, a serious wader. Not sure what kind of bird this is, but shot from my kayak. Those of you that shoot from a kayak can back me up, you can get a lot closer from the water than from land, you seem to pose a little less of a threat.
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In 2012 I made a trip to Alaska. In Anchorage, there is a coastal trail, Tony Knowles trail. The tides are around 23 ft here. At low tide the birds are a long distance from you and you can't get closer to them without walking through mud. Just after high tide the birds are close. As the tide goes out seabirds fly in for tasty morsels left behind.

On a 2016 trip to Haida Gwai I again checked the tide tables. Here are some oyster catchers.

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Willet
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Marbled Godwit
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Long-billed Curlew
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Black-necked Stilt
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American Avocet
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A few more Australian waders.

Black Falcon creates wader havoc.
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Banded Stilt
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Beach Stone-curlew in flight.
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Black-winged Stilt.
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Red Knot.
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Spotted Sandpiper (Actitis macularia), Alpine County California USA
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not very good at climbing rocks

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losing balance!

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yummy bugs in this creek

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