Common Tern

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Photographed on Long Island a few days ago. I liked the topside view and don't mind the lack of eye contact in this one. I had to remove the TC to get a better chance to get images of these birds since they flew by very closely and fast.

http://www.pbase.com/axelhi/image/113333607/original.jpg

1D3, 500f4, 1/2500s, f/8, EC +0.33, ISO 400

[Harshad Barve]

Hi Axel

Diagonal entry of bird is winner for me
beautiful image
Harshad

[Tony House]

Hi Axel,
looks good to me, I find these birds very difficult to photograph when it comes to eye contact or eye detail. The black cap is a nightmare on a white bird....

Nice work..
Tony

PS. You can bait these birds. I use casters ( maggots in their pupa state ) which are used for fishing in my country, although I'm not sure if they use them in the states? Anyway, if you leave them to turn dark brown they float on the waters surface and the Terns love picking them off. Good for getting them in one area of a pool,lake etc.. You'll need a catapult to fire the casters out... :-)

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Hi Axel,
looks good to me, I find these birds very difficult to photograph when it comes to eye contact or eye detail. The black cap is a nightmare on a white bird....

Nice work..
Tony

PS. You can bait these birds. I use casters ( maggots in their pupa state ) which are used for fishing in my country, although I'm not sure if they use them in the states? Anyway, if you leave them to turn dark brown they float on the waters surface and the Terns love picking them off. Good for getting them in one area of a pool,lake etc.. You'll need a catupult to fire the casters out... :-)

Interesting technique, Tony! I've never tried this, I usually wait somewhere between the shore and their nesting area, it's pretty much hit or miss this way.

[Tony House]

It works really well Axel, I noticed they were picking flies of the surface and in the air so I came up with the idea of using casters.. Not sure it would work in the sea though, you really need a lake or pond.

You can also use tinned fish aswell, the whole ones like sprats ect.. push a single rice crispy ( a puffed up bit of rice from breakfast cereal ) down the fishes throat, this helps the fish to float on the surface, the Terns will pick these up too...

I've rambled on a bit.... :-)

Tony

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

the diagonal is definitely a winner. Along with that, I feel that its the curve of the wings that keeps me looking at the image. Beautiful.
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[Stu Bowie]

Super angle Axel, and its always great to see the detail from the top side. I like the softer colour of the sky in this. There is still the hint of the eye, so you have done very well.

[Kiran Poonacha]

Great execution I must say, Nice details.. Congrats

[Tony Whitehead]

It works really well Axel, I noticed they were picking flies of the surface and in the air so I came up with the idea of using casters.. Not sure it would work in the sea though, you really need a lake or pond.

You can also use tinned fish aswell, the whole ones like sprats ect.. push a single rice crispy ( a puffed up bit of rice from breakfast cereal ) down the fishes throat, this helps the fish to float on the surface, the Terns will pick these up too...

I've rambled on a bit.... :-)

Tony
This almost deserves a thread in Educational Resources :D. I'm visualising a production line inserting Rice Krispies into Sprats - maybe puffed wheat would work for sardines.
Regarding the image, I really like the diagonal of the wings and head angle giving a dynamic feel of the turning tern.

[Jon Thornton]

The colour, tone and crop are really good in this shot, but I find the head angle a little awkward because it makes me want to either see much more or much less of the eye.

[Ramon M. Casares]

IMHO I wish for a better head anlge, I do like the top side view and the pose, also light would've been better just a little less harsh. COngratulaitons!

[Kobus Tollig]

Great one here. I think you did well. Like the pose and exposure is good