Common Tern Returning To Nest

[Jim Fenton]

I like this image and I don't like it, so I'll see what you folks have for thoughts / comments.

I was trying to capture a common tern as it came back into the grass area nests.
I watched for quite some time, attempting to decide how best to accomplish this.....too low on the approach and the bird would be behind the high grass. To small of a lens aperture and the DOF became to great, not giving me the background blur I wanted to achieve, yet also not giving me as much definition on the farthest away wing either.
Therefore I compromised and was fairly happy with the results, although I will certainly attempt to improve upon this particular type of image (Sorry Artie..I almost called it a shot!).

Nikon D300, 500 AFSVR, ISO 640, F 5.6, NearUniWB Preset, CW metering with +.3 EV compensation.

Let me have it..... :)

[Mike Milicia]

Beautiful image, Jim !
Given your objective, looks like an ideal compromise to me.

For this kind of image, I'd prefer to see a looser crop with more room on the sides in particular
(a bit on the left and a good bit more on the right) to include more of the environment.

The bill and feet are a bit oversaturated for my taste.

[Jody Melanson]

I like the green in the BG. The beak and feet are a little too saturated for me.

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Like the flight pose in this image Jim and all your background history on this image. I like Mikes suggestions on a larger crop . Many thanks for sharing.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

What don't you like about the image? The setting and landing pose look good. I wish the bird's left wing were a bit higher and agree regarding the oversaturation of beak and feet.

[Jim Fenton]

A) I always wear amber colored sun glasses when I shoot so my vision is skewed anyway :)

B) Seriously...when you've got breeding plumage / condition common terns birds with full sun on them...the reds are pretty darned intense.. I actual;y desaturated these down a bit prior to posting. A tad more and they instantly started to lose their ooomph. (Is there such a word?)

[Jim Fenton]

I think that my biggest concern overall was the extent of the OOF wing on the outboard side...but as I was trying to get this extent of blur on the background grasses, it was a conscious choice to see how it would work out.

[Michael Castellano]

All in all a nice image, Jim, with excellent image quality, bright colors, and good exposure control on the whites. The background does look a bit over blurred in the sense that the grasses look fairly close to the subject and one would expect them to be a little less blurred.

[Jim Fenton]

I did nothing to the background grasses to blue them....what you see is simply the OOF bokeh from the 500 with no TC at F 5.6 due to the subject to background distance. Perhaps it appears closer than reality do to the distance compression afforded by the telephoto?

[Fabs Forns]

I like it as presented, except for the reds, which seems a bit over done.

[Maxis Gamez]

Lovely artistic pose and feeling to this image. I have to agree about the saturation but very well done otherwise.

[Krijn Trimbos]

Love the sence of environment here. Also the pose of the tern is excellent and nice soft light really helps making the bird pop! Do agree about the saturation. I also wish for a bit more detail in the blacks and suggest to get rid of the darker spots in the BG on the lower right. A very very good shot..