Arctic tern in flight

[Jerry van Dijk]

Shot while walking on the beach in Skagen, Denmark. My second succesful BIF shot ever, so any suggestions for improvement are very welcome!

D7000, AF-D 80-400 f/4.5-5.6 VR @ 400mm, handheld, ISO-500, f/9, 1/1000 s.
ACR, CS5, slight crop for composition.

[Randy Stout]

Jerry:

Not an easy lens for bif shoots, so congrats on capturing it. I like the elegant tail, nice catchlight, generally good exposure. Perhaps just a bit lost detail on the rump and neck. Might consider some gentle tweaking with Color Efex Pro detail extractor on those areas if you have that software.

I think the eye area could be a bit sharper.

Keep working at the bif. It takes lots of practice, but great fun when it all comes together.

Cheers

Randy

[Jerry van Dijk]

Thanks Randy! I'll start working on the issues you mention. The eye should be an easy fix, but the lost details may pose a bit of a challenge. I don't have the software you mention and I doubt a bit if the details are there in the first place (after closeinspection of the RAW file). Probably due to a combination of handholding, not using a fast focussing prime lens and wrong exposure (I had to do a lot of recovery work on the whites).
Thanks for the encouragement. It's a lot of fun to do and I like a challenge. Upping the keeper rate should further enhance the pleasure.