Common Tern flying with pipefish

[Amano Samarpan]

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4103/4970970009_e9a4b90fdc_b.jpg

Nickerson Beach, Long Island, New York

1/1000'th sec @ f8.0
500mm f4 with EOS 7D
handheld, manual metering

Some good light made handholding the camera possible while the Common Terns were regularly bring in fish for their young!

[Amano Samarpan]

This was my first post .. but the thumbnail has not appeared!!? Apologies ... the link is there! Amano

[denise ippolito]

Amano, For the facebook link you need to sign in. Can you try to link it to your flicker account?

[Amano Samarpan]

Flickr not working either ... !?!
Amano

[Daniel Cadieux]

Hi Amano, I fixed the link for you. You had pasted the flickr page address, but you needed the image's address (I right clicked on the image, chose properties, then copy/pasted its location).

From the title I had a feeling this could be good, and it is! Nice sharpness and the prey item is awesome (it even has its face towards us!) juxtaposed against the far wing. Looks like the image is a tad dark, but not overwhelmingly. Comp is so-so IMO, you could lose some canvas at bottom, or add some at top.

Well done, and looking forward to more!!

[Amano Samarpan]

Daniel

Thanks for the explanation on the method of upload!

Your comments are also welcome .... a tad dark!? Guess that must mean my laptop is too bright!

Amano

[denise ippolito]

Amano, Very nice! I like the pipefish and the clear eye. Nice details too. I agree w/ Daniel regarding the crop. Looking forward to more! Maybe some of your birds from India.:)

[Lloyd Spitalnik]

Nice to see you posting here, Amano. Glad you had such good luck during your stay in NYC.

[Doug Brown]

Like the pose for the most part; the bird's head and the fish look fine against the far wing. Head could be angled slightly towards you. I've been going repost crazy lately, but here comes another one! I did a Levels adjustment for both whites and blacks. The whites look gray on my monitor and the blacks could stand to go a little darker. I also took the liberty of cropping some off the bottom. How do you like it?

[Amano Samarpan]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/samarpan/4979557838/

Thanks to all of you for your replies; it has made me reconsider this particular image!

In regards to framing, the Tern is actually bringing in the pipefish to feed a chick. Hence, I chose an image made directly after the previous one in which the bird is in a similar pose yet is lower in the frame and some "ground" is visible. The framing with the bird at the bottom of the frame seems to give a better idea of what is happening.

I processed this in Camera RAW and did not take it further. If there is grey on the bird, I want to see that grey, and I do not want to see bright red feet either. The dynamic range of an image does not have to be fully extended!

The red feet have been toned down a bit using the RAW colour controls. The overall brightness here seems to be OK.

I am posting a second image of the bird because here the head is looking almost directly at the viewer. In the previous image, a head turned towards the viewer might have given the impression that the viewer had drawn the attention of the bird .. am looking for images where the bird is just flying and not distracted!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/samarpan/4979557704/

Good to hear from you Llyod. Yes Denise, I shall send an Indian bird or two once I have done with the New Yorkers!

Cheers
Amano

[Amano Samarpan]

Link not working ... tried doing it in MAC OSX ... no Properties so copied and pasted Image Address

!!??

Amano

[Amano Samarpan]

Doug

Thanks .. but the legs look a little too bright red!

Amano