Black Skimmer doing what it does best

[Jay Bernstein]

Reddington Bch Florida.
The Black skimmer is one of my favorites. They are among the very best in doing in-flight acrobatics. I love to watch them fish.
They are moving so fast and its so hard to get them when they come up with a fish , this is one of the closest I got.
Canon 100-400 4.5/5.6L IS USM
focus 400mm
ISO 100
F5.6
1/1000/sec
Comments/critique always welcomed.
jay

[Julie Kenward]

They are a beautiful bird, aren't they? First and foremost, getting him to turn around and face you when he dives would be the best angle here. As it is presented you do have a nice view of the eye so that helps. The head looks soft compared to the rest of the body so you might try sharpening up that area.

You did very well with your whites but the blacks have lost a bit of detail. If you check your histogram you'll see a spike on the right side and that means you're a bit underexposed. Sometimes you can pull those up using a shadow/highlight adjustment so perhaps give that a try.

Nice action with the waves in the image but look at the very top of the frame how the waves are almost out of the image. Cloning that row out or adding more of the wave in at the top would be nice to see.

Also, when you have water-based images, it's always a good idea to blow them up to 75-100% and really have a look at them. You have several spots of white foam that could easily be cloned out, leaving you with a much cleaner image.

Good work! Now get one coming towards you next time!