{"id":4997,"date":"2012-05-15T03:55:43","date_gmt":"2012-05-15T09:55:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=4997"},"modified":"2025-03-09T10:53:25","modified_gmt":"2025-03-09T15:53:25","slug":"sidelit-piping-plover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/05\/15\/sidelit-piping-plover\/","title":{"rendered":"Sidelit Piping Plover"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was photographing one evening in Florida while laying in the mudflat of a tidal lagoon, there were Dunlins, Black-bellied Plovers and Greater Yellowlegs in front of me where the evening light was great.<\/p>\n

\"SidelitSidelit Piping Plover – Nikon D200, handheld, f7.1, 1\/640, ISO 160, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Out of the corner of my eye I caught a bit of movement and turned my head towards what I could see was a Piping Plover looking for prey in the mudflats.<\/p>\n

The light was not what most photographers would call “great<\/em>“, the plover was below a dune and the angle of the sun in the west caused the bird to be sidelit.<\/p>\n

Some photographers would pass on the shot because of the “tough”, “harsh” or “contrasty” light, but I simply couldn’t pass up the opportunity.<\/p>\n

Even though the sun wasn’t behind my shoulder and the light wasn’t golden this image has a great mood to it.<\/p>\n

I know I could have used flash to brighten up the bird and the setting but if I had it certainly would not be this moody, besides; I very rarely use flash.<\/p>\n

This Piping Plover image reminds me to try to photograph birds in other than perfect light. Sidelit and\u00a0backlit images can be spectacular so I don’t like passing up taking the chance that I might just get a great shot despite\u00a0what some photographers think of as bad\u00a0light.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a><\/span> to see more of my Piping Plover images plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This Piping Plover image reminds me to try to photograph birds in other than perfect light. Sidelit and backlit images can be spectacular so I don’t like passing up taking the chance that I might just get a great shot despite what some photographers think of as bad light. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":141396,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27,25,276,178],"tags":[4021,4083,1114,37,4035,1531,3980,1376,4387,4032],"class_list":["post-4997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-florida","category-low-angle","category-piping-plovers","tag-bird-photography","tag-birding","tag-charadrius-melodus","tag-florida-2","tag-nature-photography","tag-opportunities","tag-pinellas-county","tag-side-light","tag-sidelit","tag-wildlife-photography"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t