Skimmer head shot

[Ron Sprunger]

I'm reluctant to post this after Herb's flying head shot, but here goes. Taken at Fort De Soto in April. It's about a 3/4 crop. Cleaned a few grains of sand from crown and bill and added a little contrast and sharpening, otherwise pretty much untouched.
Nikon D7000, 500mm f/4, 1.7TC
f/11, 1/320, ISO 400, 850mm, distance 11.9 m

99725

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Very nice light and perfect exposure, Ron.
I'm enjoying the detail on the bill.
It's nice to have the eye stand out here against the black feather around.

[Ron Sprunger]

Thanks Sidharth. I appreciate you looking. Hard to talk about eyes after seeing your duck.

[Robert Holguin]

Wonderful shot. Great detail and exposure looks to be spot on. Well done.

[Troy Lim]

Ron, good portrait, did you go any lower to get the water or sky as BG?

[Ron Sprunger]

That's as low as I could get with my back the way it is. I did have some shots with cleaner water background, but completely parallel-to-the-lens HA on those. It's so danged hard to get one of these guys without having parts of five others in the frame. Also, to be honest, with that week being my very first shooting birds with a big lens, I was so excited to be getting images that I often didn't pay as much attention to background as I should have.

Thanks for looking.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Ron, Excellent detail and colours on the bill, and your comp works well. I feel there is a strong yellow cast on the skimmer, so hope you dont mind, but I desaturated the yellows on the body, and left the bill as is. What do you think?

[Ron Sprunger]

I think it's truer color, but loses the color of the very early morning light. Don't know which is considered better in a context like this forum. For sheer beauty of the bird, I prefer the clean b&w, but the yellow glow matches my memory more closely.