Sandwich Terns

[John Mack]

Sandwich terns on the beach in early morning light. I know the head angles of the birds are not ideal here. But this was the only frame where one of the birds isn't looking completely away. Image adjustments in Lightroom. Hand held, full frame.

Canon 5D MarkIII
Sigma 150-600 Contemporary
283mm
ISO 400
f8.0
1/1000sec

[Isaac Grant]

I like the pose and interaction. The whites look pretty good but the blacks on the top of the head could use more details, especially around the foreheads. Did you do something to clone the water/sand line? The area that goes back on both sides of the birds does not look right to me. Was it natural?

[John Mack]

Hey Isaac, Nothing was cloned on this image.

[Melissa Usrey]

Where was this taken? I've never seen sand so white! Cute interaction. It looks as if the smaller one is begging for food.

[John Mack]

Hey Melissa, this was taken at Fort Desoto Park, St. Petersburg, FL.

[Isaac Grant]

So interesting. So what is going on with the sand line in the background where on the left and right of the bird it starts going back like it is starting a triangle. I find that part distracting. Also when I went back and looked your shadows have a strong blue cast to them. I did the following:

Quickly (and not perfectly) selected the tops of the heads of the birds, put them on a separate layer and then on the background layer cloned out the angled part of the sand to straighten the line.
Then I selected the shadows and in Hue/Saturation I reduced the blues quite a bit. Then went into selective color and increased the blacks in the neutrals.

Thoughts?

[John Mack]

Hey Isaac, If i remember right that lump of sand through the right terns neck is the left overs from kids digging holes and making sand castles on the beach. I was right next to the life guard tower on the southern part of the beach. Your repost and processing of the image is pretty nice. Thanks

[Daniel Cadieux]

Although the head angles are not perfect I love the interaction, especially the pose of the lower tern. If there was nothing between you and the terns then going even lower would have been better to lower the horizon line. I miss Fort Desoto and its clean white sand.......

[Jonathan Ashton]

I like your shot John, my firt thought was you must have been very close, I wonder if your angle would have been slightly better if you were that bit further away - perhaps not maybe the sand levels were uneven.

[Arthur Morris]

Head angles not bad. Both the WHITEs and BLACKs look OK to me. Nice job on the repost by Isaac. Was this image created in front of the East Beach parking lot?

with love, artie

[John Mack]

Hey Arthur, This was made at North Beach right in front of the concession stand.