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This comment cuts right to the essence of bird photography, I believe. As "photographers", we want to get those perfect photos where you can see every individual feather, it's all in focus and the bird fills much of the space. But as "birders", I think we can enjoy seeing the bird in its habitat, seeing the bird in perspective, seeing the bird acting normally and seeing the bird as we would with the naked eye. The photo still needs to be in focus and interesting. The decision to include the photo with sheep was very easy for me. I believe Richard Crossley in his "The Crossley ID Guide Eastern Birds" does an excellent job of marrying those two objectives in a single image. You always have the close up but there are numerous other birds at various distances off into the background. These images were created, of course, using several to many photos. I use Crossley as much for forward-looking bird ID study as for ID of birds seen. You see them in his images as you will see them in the field. I don't disagree with anyone who prefers painted images for a field guide, Sibley being the current leader. You can show critical details in paintings that are close to impossible to capture in a photo. To some extent I suspect the truly skilled painters eliminate fine detail to highlight what really is needed for ID. But no general field guide will illustrate the range in distance, angle and activity that Crossley captures. Some of the specialist guides come close. Rick Whitman On Sun, Sep 2, 2012 at 11:10 AM, P.L. Chalmers <plchalmers@ns.sympatico.ca> wrote: > Lovely photos! I like the third photo best, though, with the two > sheep in the background. It really gives one a sense of the size of this > dainty shorebird. I always associate the Buff-breasted Sandpiper with > Labour Day weekend; I don't necessarily see one every year, but in the years > that I do, it will be then. > > Cheers, > > Patricia L. Chalmers > Halifax > > > At 07:59 PM 01/09/2012, Rick Whitman wrote: >> >> I expect to be upstaged by Richard & Ronnie but I do have two photos >> of this beautiful sandpiper that I don't expect to equal for some >> time: >> >> >> http://rickwhitman.smugmug.com/Nature/Shorebirds/22686725_mPvQtv#!i=2060890809&k=nRSjDZd >> >> As Richard has posted, these were taken today on Cape Sable which is >> just across the water from The Hawk, Cape Sable Island. Thanks to >> Ronnie D'Entremont for suggesting this excellent trip. >
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