Forster's Tern - lesson learned

[Miguel Palaviccini]

After receiving some great feedback from a recent post (http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php/106219-Forster-s-Tern-a-first), I headed back to capture some more images of the terns in flight. As Randy suggested, I turned my Picture Control to "Neutral". I shot in Manual and exposed for the highlights. Didn't blow anything out this time! I was able to capture this shot, which I thought was dynamic enough to share. It's not perfectly in focus/sharpness (should have shot at a higher SS), but has enough detail to make it a keeper (at least for me).

Hoping to get suggestions on a crop. He's looking to his right, but banking to his left.

Shooting info:
Nikon D800 | 70-200 VR + 2x tele
400 mm | 1/1600" | f/7.1 | ISO 400


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[gail bisson]

I would crop this as a vertical, Miguel with a bit more room on the image's left in the vertical. YOU know he is banking to his left but the eyes are right so I would put a bit more space on the birds right. I don't think the viewer can tell he is heading to the left.
Whites look good and I like the curved tail. You also have a nice wispy cloudy sky.
I love that you took everyone's comments and went out in the field and practiced.
Gail

[Randy Stout]

Miguel:

Glad that the whites behaved a bit better this time!

This is a very neat pose, banking one way and looking the other. The tail curvature is the give away that he is banking to the left, but visually, he does need room on the left side of the frame to gaze into. I think a slightly squarish vertical will work well, because of the very strong diagonals crated by the wings.

You certainly could bump up the ISO with the D800 to give yourself a little more shutter speed flexibility.

Cheers

Randy

[Grace Scalzo]

Fantastic pose, love the fanned tail. This could not have been easy to capture. Wonderful background with the whispy clouds. I like your composition, but think that this is one of those images that could work in a few different ways. Very well done!

[Roman Kurywczak]

Great advice above Grace! I too would prefer a vert.....but then again I am known to crop tight. While not my favorite pose....all in all...handled very well and a very nice capture!

[PhilCook]

Definitely a keeper Miguel, loving very much the opposing angles/curves of wings and tail as well as head to body....brilliant timing I think ! Cropping this to vertical would be good, but it's well positioned as is with space on the left...such a beautiful sky as a backdrop too....all totally enviable

[Troy Lim]

Exposure looks good but crop was a little odd. Agree with Roman on vertical.

[Shawn Zierman]

Really like the way the tail shows on this one! Great flight pose. Most of all, I like the subtle cloud
defininition in the bg that adds great interest to the sky. I think your composition is very close to
how I would present this, except I would over-emphasize the negative space on the left hand side,
(regardless of where the bird is headed in this case), by having the subject moved over towards
the right edge of the frame a bit.

[Miguel Palaviccini]

New crop. Had a hard time trying to stay away from a square-ish crop. Added a sliver of room to the bottom of the original.

[nick clayton]

This tighter crop is a great improvement over the original which has too much empty space, for me it makes the image more dynamic.

[Jonathan Ashton]

An unusual pose and great exposure, like the image as originally posted, I also like the repost, I am not sure which I prefer.