Mating Skimmers

[Roman Kurywczak]

From this morning at Nickerson. Not the easiest with these guys as they are always near the flock and millions of merges. These 2 lovebirds were on the far edge of the colony and just a bit lucky that others didn't want to come by and gawk. Crop right and bottom from full frame....about 80%FF. I wish it was an hour or so earlier.....but this is the first clean ones I got! Rippped off 24 frames......3 with wings in the uproght position......one on the dismount. Canon 1dMark lll with the Sigma 300-800mm lens and the canon 1.4 tele at 1020mm at f11 for 1/2500 sec and ISO1250. Felt I needed speed and DOF

[Randy Stout]

Roman:

Nice exposure control on these difficult (exposure wise) birds. Nice to hold both the reds and the whites on the forehead.

Nice eyes, HA

Looks like some noise creeping in the greys/blacks. I think you made a good compromise on the ISO to maintain DOF and SS. Might have gotten by with lower SS, but as you said, these guys don't waste time.

I think its interesting how the long raised wing, forces you into a somewhat centered comp. Maybe just a bit more canvas to the left?

Thanks for sharing!

Cheers

Randy

[Sid Garige]

I really like that eye contact from both birds. Well done job Roman.

[Dave Barnes]

Interesting capture Roman, I like the interaction and comp.
Could you clear up a bit more of the noise on the dark feathers without loosing detail?
There is a halo from sharpening/resizing that could be sorted.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Nice capture of this moment. I like the raised wings and eye contact. The blacks look a bit washed out and there are some clone marks on the left.