Black Skimmer at last light

[Bill Dix]

From Nickerson in early July, taken moments before the sun set. In fact this was captured 10 seconds prior to another frame of this bird that I posted awhile back. On that one, my OP smoothed out the dark wings a little too much in an attempt to reduce the noise. Here I've erred on the side of leaving a little noise to avoid excessive NR.

D7200, 500f4 + 1.4 TC, ISO 2500, 1/2500s @ f/8 manual.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I can see the noise indeed here, but yes to being better than smoothing out all the details. You could reduce it just a tad without sacrificing detail though. Really appealing last light here, and the fish is a nice bonus. The BG is a little more blotchy than what I prefer, but it has a nice colour to it. Well balance comp.

[Tim Foltz]

Bill, everything about this reminds me of the wetlands here in So. CA.
Nice golden hour, wing position, prey, BG and HA. Flying back to the nest and the start of a busy night of fishing.

-Tim

[Satish Ranadive]

Excellent image, Bill sir. Super lights, great flight ,and composition.

Regards,
Satish.

[Geoffrey Montagu]

Beautiful last rays of sun for the day. Love the rich colors produced here, and the overall detail. Great highlight on the fish. Well captured.


Geoffrey

[Bill Dix]

Thank you all.