Greater Yellowlegs C&C requested

[rtbaum]

I returned to Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge; along with the standard swans and bald eagles, I spotted a "late to migrate" Greater Yellowlegs
All shot with D90, Sigma 400mm, F/5.6



iso 1000, 1/4000 sec


iso 720, 1/4000 sec



iso 1000, 1/4000 sec

[FrankMi]

Hi Randy, I see three things here that you may want to consider. The 'out of focus' foreground is blocking parts of the subject and is therefore a distraction. The Greater Yellowlegs are a fairly small portion of the image. And the images appear to be soft and grainy on my monitor as if this is a significant crop of a much larger image.

Noise reduction software and some sharpening can help but I fear that it alone can't overcome enough of the issues to really make a significant difference. Shooting with a lower ISO can help the noise and as long as the birds don't take flight, you can afford to reduce the shutter speed to compensate for the lower ISO.

Hope this helps!