The Sand Eel Exits Stage Right...

[Nicki Gwynn Jones]

Hi Everyone,
Another image from my recent trip to the Farne Islands. I deliberately chose this crop as I felt that the sand eel's plight was more dramatically highlighted - about to disappear for good :D
1D 3 300 f/2.8
ISO 125
1/8000
Exp comp -1/3
HH
Light was pretty harsh.
Look forward to your C&C's!
Best to all,
Nicki

[Randy Stout]

Nicki:

Another acrobatic capture. I like the impact of the bird going one way and the eel the other. For my taste, that provides the conflict/tension needed in the image, and I think it would work well with a conventional crop for that reason. I do admire your sense of style however.

Cheers

Randy

[Mike Fuhr]

Nice action and sharpness, especially on the fish. Seems to have a bit of blue cast on my monitor. Love the placement in the frame!

[arash_hazeghi]

I'd subtract empty space from left and add it to the right where the bird is flying to, nice dive with fish. I see a strong blue cast on my screen.

[Nicki Gwynn Jones]

Randy, Mike and Arash, thank you so much for your comments and suggestions. How do I best get rid of the colour cast? Is it better to tweak the slider from blue towards yellow in 'colour balance' or should I just desaturate the blues in 'hue/saturation?
Regarding the crop, I prefer the road less travelled ;)
Best,
Nicki

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Cool pose and I also like that the blacks are a bit darker. The fish adds to it and I find it interesting that you made him the main protagonist. :)

As for the color cast, you could selectively desaturate the blue channel or do it in the RAW file.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Good observationsand suggestions already offered. I like the curved wing outlines along with the sand eel's arching body shape.

[Randy Stout]

Nicki:

Here is a very quick tweak using the average color blur tech. It can be tweaked to taste, just my guess at real colors there.

Cheers

[Nicki Gwynn Jones]

Axel, Daniel and Randy, thanks so much!
Randy, I like the repost - thank you for taking the time to do it. What is the 'average colour blur tech' :confused:

[Axel Hildebrandt]

The whites in the repost look very good.

[Arthur Morris]

Randy is too quick :) (I worked on the repost yesterday as Randy was posting but never got around to posting my very similar version. Mine is a 75% Opacity Robert O'Toole Average Blur Color Balance Trick adjustment. You can find details in the most recent update of Digital Basics (https://store.birdsasart.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=252).

[Stu Bowie]

Nicki, what an amazing acrobatic flying posture, and good to see the catch. Randy's repost has sorted out the cast. Overall, well captured.

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Love the action Nicki !!!! ! Beautiful timing and well exposed . Congratulations !!!

[Nicki Gwynn Jones]

Thank you everyone, and thank you Artie for taking the time to work on the repost - looks great :)

[Gal Shon]

Both of the repost looks good to me.
The Comp is wonderful ( I think a vertical can work as well).

[Nicki Gwynn Jones]

Thank you Gal :)