Whiskered Tern at sunrise

[Ian Wilson]

I found a group of terns, pelican, spoonbills, egrets and cormorants having breakfast on a shallow backwater where a school of small fish had come in on the night tide. As the sun rose, the fish headed for the exit but were easy prey for the hungry birds.

Canon 5DIII + 600 mm f/4L II + 1.4x III extender, hand-held.
Manual, f/8, 1/4000 sec, ISO 640.
Processed with DPP4 and PD Elements.

[William Dickson]

Very nice image Ian. I like this a lot. Beautiful details on the bird which blend with the BG nicely. HA and POV perfect. Good work and thanks for sharing

[annmpacheco]

wonderful manual exposure setting to light the bird against the wonderful bokeh. very nice image.

[Grace Scalzo]

Lovely exposure with great detail in both the white and the blacks. Isn't early morning light great? I do wish that the near wing was fully extended and I also wish that I had this image in my files. :)

[christopher galeski]

nice capture,the bird pops out of my screen,nice detail.

[keith mitchell]

Cracking bird against that bark b/g ,beautiful detail.

Keith.

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Ian, As noted, the image is very sharp with a nice background and a good exposure for the WHITEs. . Unlike the rest of the gang I have several problems with this image.

The middle and dark tones need to be opened up as the image as presented is very high in contrast.

It looks as if the bird was relatively high in the sky relative to your position. I try to avoid having to raise my lens more than 30 degrees above the horizon for flight photography.... 15 degrees or less is ideal. In part, this caused the near wing to appear fore-shortened even though it was in the usually desirable downstroke position.

Lastly, the bird is a bit too large in the frame; do you have more room all around?

[Bob Smith]

Such intensity of colour and detail Ian , against a very classy BG bokeh.

[gail bisson]

Love the BG and the details in the whites.
Like Art I would like to see a bit more room all around and would try to open up the blacks in PP.
Very striking and dramatic image with very nice colors throughout.
Well done,
Gail

[Aidan Briggs]

Light/sharpness/colors all nice. Always fun to catch a tern in flight. Yes to more room all around, but that is a matter of personal preference. The position of the near wing bugs me more. Good job keeping the tern back in the frame.

Looking forward to more!

[Ian Wilson]

Thanks everyone for your helpful comments and feedback - much appreciated. No problem giving the bird more room in the frame and I will revisit the processing in light of Arthur's critique. Regards, Ian

[Ian Wilson]

In this reprocessed version I have given the bird more room in the frame and opened up the mid-tones and blacks as suggested by Arthur. I think it is much improved - thanks everyone for your help. Regards, Ian

[David Salem]

The re-post is killer and really made this one shine. Even though I like tight comps, especially when they are sharp, this one needed some more space. Very nice tern frame Ian.

[Arthur Morris]

Great job on the repost Ian!