Royal Tern in Breeding Plumage

[Bob Blanchard]

Hi all - Sorry I haven't been on BPN much lately (just busy shooting, processing, and moderating). I made a stop at Blind Pass yesterday, and worked the Royal Terns. Some are coming into pretty nice colors.

Canon 1DsMII, Canon 600mm f/4L, ISO 400, f/8, 1/2000, Off Gitzo Monopod with RRS monopod head at near ground level.
http://www.catcheroflight.com/photos/811208186_UzdUa-X3.jpg

[Paul Kusmin]

Very nice Bob, great eye contact and BG.
notice a small amount of pixilation in the BG but that's probably just from re-sizing for web.

[Bob Blanchard]

Very nice Bob, great eye contact and BG.
notice a small amount of pixilation in the BG but that's probably just from re-sizing for web.

Yep - I see the slight banding here. Just a product of 8 bit conversion to web and jpg on an image with the gradient in the bg that this one has. Definitely not on the original.

[Bob Pelkey]

I've only recently noticed this phenomenon (pixelation, banding) in any of my images since running NR. I don't make a conversion and shoot in JPEG. I'm not sure the NR created the problem and will be on the lookout for the image where I've seen this effect.

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Bob Good looking bird and love the detail around the face, perfect shadow detail. Might only lighten the gray body feathers a bit? Crop works great and love the bg you came up with by going low !!!

... thanks for the heads up on the pass, haven't been by there with all the construction going on at the bridge !!!

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Beautiful. I like the dynamic range and the DOF. The OOF FG is working well here I think. Very unique and creative photo. Thx for sharing.

[Bob Blanchard]

Thanks all.

Al - Blind pass is back to normal and good as ever. All construction is complete.

[Marina Scarr]

Nice to see you posting, Bob. Lovely capture. Love the pose, the colors and the movement in the feathers.

[Mike Landwehr]

Great to see you posting again, Bob. I've missed your beautiful images over the past few months. I love the saturated color on this royal tern, as well as the composition.