Common Tern in flight

[gail bisson]

I went out this am to try to get an image of a tern I could live with. I find them exceedingly difficult to expose properly AND get a catchlight. I took 256 shots and only got 2 that I liked. Here is one of them.
Canon 1D MKIV
F 500mm and 1.4x converter
Manual ,on tripod at 8:30 AM
SS 1/2000
f 7.1
ISO 400
Added some canvas on the right and removed some from the left. Cropped about 20%.
Comments and critiques always learned from and appreciated with thanks,
Gail

[Randy Stout]

Gail:

Very nice full up pose, well exposed, like the tucked up feet nice catchlight.
Slight oversharpening of the far wing, with jaggies showing up along the rachises.

In a perfect world, would prefer an all green background, but overall, a very nice tern picture, and worth the time!

Cheers

Randy

[laurie golden]

Gail,

He looks good and sharp, I like the background, wing position and the feet tucked up. I find that I only get good tern photos if the wind/lighting is perfect.

[Grace Scalzo]

Quite a nice image, Gail. They are so fast but well worth the effort. I like how your bird stands out from the background.

[David Salem]

Gail,

Nice job on a hard to track subject. Like the wing position very much. Its feet in the forward position is neat also. Good exposure, not easy with terns.

Your ratio is better than mine. I have literally shot 5000 frames of terns over the last 3 weeks and got 8- 10 that I like. My friends and I joke about the tern making the right turn. When they do they light up like this one. Nice job.

David

[Jack Breakfast]

Gorgeous multi-colored background, and a nice-looking tern! 2 out of 256 isn't too bad!

[Satish Ranadive]

Marvelous flight pose. Love the wing position,great details in whites,lights and beautiful BG.

Regards,
Satish.

[gary ellwein]

Gail, I share your experience and frustration with this species. Your perseverance has payed off. The exposure is good with the whites under control.

[Tony Whitehead]

Good job with this challenging species, Gail. Nice and sharp and good exposure.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Gail, good flying pose with the raised wings, and both exposure and sharpness look good. I will take a foliage BG anytime.

[christopher galeski]

nice sharp image Gail,nice light and BG,for me,I would like a bit more on the bottom.thanks.

[Dumay de Boulle]

Lovely stuff Gail, great wing position and the BG is awesome...Good light too by the way! Nicely done!

[Jonathan Ashton]

You have a lovely shot there Gail great exposure nice pose and super detail. I see you have gone more or less for the rule of thirds but there seems to be a lot of empty space on the right, i would perhaps take a tad off the top and a little off the right hand side.

[Ofer Levy]

Bird looks great! SHarp with excellent detail and good exposure. Not crazy about the composition. Attached two alternatives that can work although none of them is very solid as the pose makes it a bit tricky.

[Jack Breakfast]

Personally, I like Ofer's reposts, but not as much as the original post. The background is so pleasing that I am happy to see as much of it as possible...

[Bill Dix]

Good catch, Gail. Yes, these guys have a way of using up memory cards quickly. Nice up-wing position, interesting forward feet, good exposure and catchlight. I like the layered bg, and the OP works just fine for me (although just a tiny bit higher in the frame would also work.)

[Melissa Groo]

I think you did very well here, Gail. Terns in flight sure are tough but boy are they gorgeous to capture. I really like the angle of the bird towards you, the wings up position, and I like the background. As for comp, I like Ofer's first repost the best.

[arash_hazeghi]

excellent flight pose and nice exposure with a good BG. they are tough to get

[gail bisson]

Thanks all for your helpful comments. I like my OP and Ofer's first repost equally.
Gail

[Frank Schauf]

Excellent shot with very nice soft background, Gail.

[dankearl]

I like the layered BG a lot, more attractive for me than a solid color.
Either the OP or Ofer's first for me also.
Nice job, I would be very happy with this.