Caspian Terns

[Ian McHenry]

The estuary is a funny place to visit as you never know what might be available.
This shot of 2 Caspian Terns taken with Pentax K10D and Tamron 70-300.
It was a case of focusing and panning one bird till the second came into shot.
!/1000 sec @ F8 minus 1/3 EV.
Ian McHenry

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ianrmc/

[Jim Poor]

Nice action captured.

There seems to be something funky going on with one of the feet of the lower bird; it looks purple. There is also a halo around the other foot of the same bird. The lower tail is blown out a bit too.

Still, I really like the poses and action caught here. Someone better in PS than I might be able to help with some of the issues and if not, I'd definitely consider some sort of artistic water color treatment for this because the action captured merits it IMO.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

The interaction and poses are great. The light looks very harsh and it would have been good if the sun would have been behind you. The BG is very noisy. Is this a significant crop?

[Paul Davey]

Ian, the pose is great but would look much better if displayed across most of the frame. It look's like you've cropped extensively to enlarge the scene. Is it possible to get closer? Correct me if I'm wrong, but the FOV on the K10D is 1.5x meaning that your 300mm would become an effective 450mm. Likewise a 400mm would become a great 600mm. Another suggestion is to purchase a good-sized memory card like 2GB and shoot RAW for such special shots, or use RAW exclusively.

Paul

[Ian McHenry]

Thanks Jim, Axel & Paul.
Jim: Appreciate your comments. This was the best edit of the bird I could manage with my meagre editing skills. LOL.
Axel: Appreciated. No this was not a significant crop but is one of a series where the birds flew in close and did their aerial interactions.
Paul: Yes K10D is a multiplication of 1.5 in comparison to film camera so 300 = 450 etc.
I use a 4 gig SD card and will probably use Jpeg & RAW combo more frequently.
Cheers: Ian McHenry