Black Skimmer In Flight

[Jim Fenton]

Very rare for Massachusetts and fortunately a pair of probable re-nesters have laid three eggs on a barrier beach where I spend lots of time....

Rather than the 500 VR which I typically use for flight shots, as these birds were flying relatively close while chasing terns away, I opted for the 70-300VR handheld.

Nikon D300, 70-300VR, ISO 640, f8, 1/1600, UNIWB, CW metering, +.7 EV compensation applied.

[Randy Stout]

Jim:

Fine wing spread, really swept forward, nice tail fan too. Good HA, and even a catchlight!

Some noise in the darker areas.

How big of crop was this?

Hope to see more from this series.
Randy

[Jim Fenton]

Hi Randy....

It wasn't a large crop...I simply cropped it vertical out of a horizontal frame.

I find that inherently, using higher ISO to have sufficient shutter speed that I'm going to get a bit of noise in the darker areas...it's kinda touch to get enough light on the subject both to illuminate the darker areas and still hold the highlights as much as possible.

[arash_hazeghi]

I like the pose and wing spread, nice exposure on the eye and sharp. I see the noise too, you can clean it up with NR it will look better after NR

[Jim Fenton]

You folks must have far better eyes thatn I :)

Anyhow....i applied a slight amount of NR on the darker portion and replaced the image.

[Lorant Voros]

Beautiful pose. Love the wing spread. Nice eye contact and good exposure. Very nice image; congratulations.

[Doug Brown]

Gorgeous pose Jim! These birds are tough to expose properly; on my Canon gear I tend to go with about +1/3 of a stop into the blinkies. I think perhaps you're pushed a little too far to the right here; the blacks could go a little darker making the noise a little less pronounced.

[Julie Kenward]

Beautiful in flight pose, Jim. I agree with Doug - not only could the darks be a little darker, the sky might hold a bit more color, too. Still, very nice as presented.

[Arthur Morris]

The colors and tonality look pretty good from here. Exposing to the right is the best way to reduce noise.... I would be fine with the blacks a little blacker. There is a broad light halo around the bird.....

[Harshad Barve]

Agreed with all good points covered
Fabulous shot for me
TFS

[David Fletcher]

Wonderful shot Jim. Points covered already, so congrats.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Holy cow Jim! Fabulous pose! I love everything about this shot. Agreed with above commentary. :)

[paul leverington]

This LOOKS to me like you were too close to the nest and the skimmer was focusing his stress on you Jim. That may or may not be the case, but I thought I'd go out on the limb again here and bring it up. No finger pointing from me is implied as I was not there--but that was my initial reaction when opening the posted shot. Just mentioning it to you so your aware of how some folks will sum up this shot--be it true or not. Birds that have eggs and not babies, wil abandon incredibly quick and for apparently no reason at all. Personally I would stick with the 500 handheld--if it were my call.

Yes the shot is noisy as others have mentioned. It's fixable some but from what I see a better shot of the same could be had--especially if there were something at all to the background--maybe clouds.

Can't beat the position and pose of the bird on this one Jim, but the shot is very weak in comp and troubling in perceived method of capture.

And I hope your not resentful of me for giving it my honest take.

Paul

[Arthur Morris]

This LOOKS to me like you were too close to the nest and the skimmer was focusing his stress on you Jim. That may or may not be the case, but I thought I'd go out on the limb again here and bring it up. No finger pointing from me is implied as I was not there--but that was my initial reaction when opening the posted shot. Just mentioning it to you so your aware of how some folks will sum up this shot--be it true or not. Birds that have eggs and not babies, wil abandon incredibly quick and for apparently no reason at all. Personally I would stick with the 500 handheld--if it were my call. Can't beat the position and pose of the bird on this one Jim, but the shot is very weak in comp and troubling in perceived method of capture.And I hope your not resentful of me for giving it my honest take. Paul

Paul, Have you ever worked at a skimmer colony?

Your comments on the bird being stressed are totally without merit, so totally without merit as to be absurd. Nobody who knows birds would reach that conclusion based on this image.

[paul leverington]

Paul, Have you ever worked at a skimmer colony?

Your comments on the bird being stressed are totally without merit, so totally without merit as to be absurd. Nobody who knows birds would reach that conclusion based on this image.

Your a feisty old bird Artie!

Kim and I shoot the delaware --new Jersey area more than most as thats her back yard. One of the places we frequent is Stone Harbor Point. Ever been there Artie? You probably have. Every year they have a nesting skimmer colony, although the last couple years the nests were washed away mostly. A temporary line is put in place and frequently adjusted to accomodate any chages that take place for whatever reason. Nothing new here about that.

My point is I HAVE most definitely photographed skimmer colonies--and year after year. When you walk up to the fence line, not even real close to the nests, the skimmers react. They would dive at you, scream at you, fly straight at your face an veer off at the last second, and above all-- circle you. I do not have a 500--I have a 600. That was fine for the skimmers as far as they were concerned. But when I put a shorter lens on, they gave me a lot of opportune as we see in Jim's shot--exactly actually as in Jim's shot. There would also be a small group of them taking turns trying to shoo me off. After the attacks they most often circled around for another pass. All this mind you from behind the barrier line a fair distance from the nests. It wasn't until Kim got fed up with me and scolded me real hard that I came back to my better senses and backed off. Then the skimmers went back to their nests. What do they do when YOU get close to the nests Artie?

You know Artie--I wasn't there--but neither were you. My comment I feel to Jim was honest, respectful, giving in to the benefit of doubt, and in no way judgemental. In your mission statement for this site you claim to want posters to "give honest, sincere, critique but do it gently". Your retort to my post reflects that truly this is not a fact. You consistantly attack with sarcasism and mockery those who post something you disagree with. Here you not only claim that I could have never have photographed a skimmer colony which is not only not true, but is something you could never have known. Second my commentary is totally WITH MERIT as I have in fact worked skimmer colonies. By implying with dismissive sarcasim that I'm being absurd and that I couldn't possibly know anything about birds is by far the more absurd statement.

Read my post again and you'll find that I was in no way Judging Jim's ethics--I left plenty of room for myself in the event I was mistaken. I only presented what I thought, to a great extent based on personal experience, of his shot. Never would I want him to feel offended or judged by it.

Now if you don't want honest critique say so--I'll give you all those "ATTA BOY'S AND NICE PIC" comments you want! If not maybe you could back off from the person who posts and stick entirely to the content of the posters statements.. I feel you have a habit of doing this all too frequently and it does stiffle free thought and expression. Belittlement isn't the way.

Paul

[Jim Fenton]

Paul....

I make it a point to not take things personally :)

As far as the comp goes, one can't always have clouds or a background.

As far as my proximity goes, I was at least 50 yards away from the nest....outside the symbolic fencing....and the bird was chasing laughing gulls and terns...not stressed at all by my presence from what I could tell. The wind was blowing at about 20mph out of the SE which brought the birds flight path directly in front of me as he banked on his returns. I actually have a permit which allows me to work inside the tern colony in the dunes but I stayed a good distance from these birds, especially given that none have nested on this beach in recent history.

These birds are nesting right along the grass line of a 4000+ pair tern colony and they are harassed constantly. In fact, on several occasions when the male took off to chase away harrasers, he landed not 25' from me, rather content to preen himself as I watched.

[paul leverington]

Thanks for the affirmation you didn't take my post badly Jim. The explanation suffices for me and I always give benefit of doubt unless I would know for fact that things were different. The stone haror point colony also resides with the terns. Makes a very action packed, fun loving, productive day usually!

Paul

[Arthur Morris]

Paul, Well, it seems that you are personally experienced with harrassing skimmer colonies. While working at skimmer colonies I have seen the birds act as you describe when folks get too close to the nests near the ropes. I have however, seen hundreds of skimmers flying about and banking as they fly to and from the colonly just as the bird in the image is doing.

I thought about your post as I walked this morning and the only conclusion that I could come up with as far as why you chose to "go out on a limb and bring it up" when, as you stated, you were not there, was for the post to be purposefully inflammatory. I did not say that you were absurd, I said that your comment was absurd.
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[paul leverington]

Paul, Well, it seems that you are personally experienced with harrassing skimmer colonies. While working at skimmer colonies I have seen the birds act as you describe when folks get too close to the nests near the ropes. I have however, seen hundreds of skimmers flying about and banking as they fly to and from the colonly just as the bird in the image is doing.

I thought about your post as I walked this morning and the only conclusion that I could come up with as far as why you chose to "go out on a limb and bring it up" when, as you stated, you were not there, was for the post to be purposefully inflammatory. I did not say that you were absurd, I said that your comment was absurd.
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No. I definitely was not trying to be inflammatory.

When I first open or see an image I have conditioned myself to hold on to and pay attention to my first intital gut reaction. I feel that comes from the subconscious and from emotion. Core stuff. The cognitive thinking conscious mind hasn't had enough time to discern anything. This stage of figuring out what I am seeing is important. Then of course I think about everything else cognitively. After that, I try and draw an honest, sincere, evaluation. And this shot of a skimmer in a full bank--which means he's circling probably, only a small ammount of cropping, and with a 300 just totally impressed me that this was a shot of a skimmer on the defense. This is exactly how they look when flying around you. I'm totally satisfied with Jim's explanation, but without that explanation anyone might think that's how the shot was made would be my point. Anytime even a hint of ethics is brought up a person is going out there maybe where others have shied, so "out on a limb".

I was probably about 20 yards from nests when they got on me. Maybe more--maybe a little less. I was surprised by it actually and didn't think I was too close,but they did obviously. Sure they were doing lot's of other flying bringing fish in, fighting off gulls and other skimmers and the smaller terns for territory, and it would be possible to get a shot like this. But you should acknowledge I never concluded anything. I kept my remarks very open ended I feel.

It's the other stuff you threw in wrapped around the word absurd that hints something more Artie. But I enjoy your candor and courage to speak your mind how you see it, even if I see it different. I hope you'll always give me the same.

Hey- so have you ever made stone harbor?

Paul

[Arthur Morris]

Try to consider what I say rather than what you think that I am hinting at. I have been to Stone Harbor too many years ago to remember. I think that it was back in the Age of Film actually.

[paul leverington]

Try to consider what I say rather than what you think that I am hinting at. I have been to Stone Harbor too many years ago to remember. I think that it was back in the Age of Film actually.

Sure Artie. And you try not to be premature in your assesments of my abilities and experience. Deal?

Paul

[Arthur Morris]

All that I did was ask a question. Then you started making assumptions. This my request.

As for your abilities, I have looked at the three images that you have posted on BPN and I remember being impressed. We would love to see more.

[paul leverington]

I DO have to post more don't I. I'm a bit of a slacker at times I'm afraid. And I have that perfectionist thing down to a fault, so high volume on pictures will probably never happen even though I have tera bytes of pictures stored.

Thanks for the gentle kick in the butt though Artie!

Paul