Caspian Tern Enduring The Rain.

[Daniel Cadieux]

It took about 20 minutes to slowly crawl in the wet sand for this composition (and waiting for the gulls to vacate the frame), and when I got there the soft raining turned into a hard one. Talk about getting drenched! Every minute or so the tern would shake the drops of of its head, but I found those drops appealing so I would wait until they accumulated again before taking more images. I was hoping to crawl even closer for tight head-and-shoulder portraits, but alas something spooked the flock of gulls, and this tern, away form the scene. I was tempted to start my crawl again to where they landed, but the rain was getting even harder so I gave up for the sake of my gear's functionality (I had a cover on, but it was still pretty wet!)

Canon 7DII + 500mm f/4 II + 1.4TC III, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/800s., f/5.6, ISO 1600, natural light, handheld, FF + bits added to the corners after slight canvas rotation.

[Geoffrey Montagu]

Daniel, this is off the charts great. I know you must have been thinking, I may pick up something or scrape my knees, but oooh what an image I'm going to get for the effort. You sure got what you were after in the ++++++'s. Perfection. Love the back story.


Geoffrey




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

[Brian Sump]

Super story Daniel, congrats on the payoff. The final product is a simple stunner - lovely environment, beautifully exposed! Nice work getting those toes sticking up too :-)

[dankearl]

You captured the rain very well, not easy, nice angle. I would get rid of the orange speck foliage in front of bird.

[Jay Ing]

Very nice, Daniel. Not a big thing but I thought of removing the reddish leaf in front of the bird as well (like Dan) but I know removals like that are a personal thing. Lovely exposure and dig the water (falling and droplets) too... worth the effort.

Question: Was it raining when you went out or did you go with the rain cover in case it started? I ask because I haven't yet purchased a good one but am thinking about the best way to approach rainy day shooting.

[William Dickson]

Very nice....Really liking the rich colours here. That looks like a small brown feather in the sand, just in front of the birds feet. Not the orange (leaf)....whatever it is, it adds, as does the rain of course ....Good work Dan.

Will

[Muhammad Arif]

This image definitely has the "wow" factor for me. Great job with the exposure showing both the details of the white and the dark of the head which can be challenging with Caspian terns. Love, love, love the raindrops that are coming down at an angle.

[Bill Dix]

Classic Cadieux low-POV-in-the-mud shot. Rain is captured to perfection, as is the exposure. Love the drops on the head, and I'm fine with the orange leaf either way. Superb image. I wish I could see a video of your crawling technique, managing to keep the 500 out of the mud and your hands clean.

[John Mack]

Love a bird in the rain. Espcially a caspian tern like this one. Solid low point of view. The pose on the bird is very nice.