Black Skimmer - Banksy goes Left

[Jay Ing]

This Skimmer doesn't have quite the wing extension of the last one I posted here, but the light was so nice today that I think the dorsal colors more than make up for it. I did have to "steal" a wing tip (lower one) from the frame prior and add the smallest of amounts to the upper wing (half of the last feather). Don't see myself getting a better one for awhile. Most lucky than skilled me thinks.

A9ii, 600mm, F5, 500, 4000, HH, C1P/PS/DnAi, Zone AF

187686

[David Roach]

I have to agree with the self assessment with exception to the part about luck. Just perfect EXP to show this lovely light and awesome dorsal view. TFS

ps
BG ain't shabby either....

[Daniel Cadieux]

Great dorsal banking pose here. Good job with the wingtip repair. Nice hues to the blue water! You could even go vertical here, with a bit more room top and bottom added after cropping the sides.

[Robert Kimbrell]

You have to be happy with that . The bird is perfectly positioned. Good job on the wingtip repair. The water looks great, color and texture.

[Geoffrey Montagu]

Don't know how I got past this beautiful banking capture without commenting, Jay. I agree that you had some fine light to work with, and what's really outstanding is the color quality being very accurate for the Skimmer. The sharpness and details on the beak is terrific. Is this pretty much what came out of the camera? From a number of images I've seen posted online, and not knowing the EXIF or post info., the A9II seems to produce fairly contrasty images, to me.

Excellent repair work.


Geoffrey




http://500px.com/geoffreymontagu (http://500px.com/geoffreymontagu)

[Jay Ing]

Thanks for the kind words. I'm still very much learning so, take it FWIW, but I do think the A9ii's images are a little too contrasty. Perhaps it depends on your conversion. I work through C1P and for most (but not all) I do lower the constant a bit. I make use of their highlight reduction a fair amount but that's because of me not the camera of course.

On this one - thankfully, the 20fps allowed me to have helper files before and after. I was shooting the 600 and the he made his turn too close. The light was quite good but thankfully his angle was such that it filled in his colors more fully than I've ever seen on any of my other shots... so.. was happy with this one. I am going to repost and vertical crop and see how I like that. I usually don't like those and these type of shots, but it will allow the subject to fill the frame more which in this case could be a real plus. Oh, I am now using Denoise AI for sharpens and NR... I had my doubts but I think it does a very good job and is so easy to use. Most (not all) images I'd giving a little sharpening to and so NR as well.

Cheers -



Don't know how I got past this beautiful banking capture without commenting, Jay. I agree that you had some fine light to work with, and what's really outstanding is the color quality being very accurate for the Skimmer. The sharpness and details on the beak is terrific. Is this pretty much what came out of the camera? From a number of images I've seen posted online, and not knowing the EXIF or post info., the A9II seems to produce fairly contrasty images, to me.

Excellent repair work.


Geoffrey




http://500px.com/geoffreymontagu (http://500px.com/geoffreymontagu)

[John Mack]

A nice dorsal flight frame. I like that blue water background. Nice and sharp with good detail.