Black skimmer

[arash_hazeghi]

This is a skimmer shot from Foster city area, I had a few frames with identical pose including a few with uniform BG but I opted for this one with the waves. Some may find the waves distracting but since skimmers in this area skim in the shallow waters right where the tide edge is the waves are a common feature of the habitat, and they give the impression of the shallow water. I am interested to know what you think


103400

1D4 700mm f/8 1/2500sec ISO 400

you can see large size here (http://ari1982.smugmug.com/Animals/Skimmer/19088201_vzH4sK#1486401318_7J7WBXZ-O-LB)

[Ofer Levy]

This is fantastic! Sharp as can be with excellent detail, perfect exposure and an awesome 3D effect - great job my friend!!!

[Jonathan Ashton]

Arash - love it! The details in the bird are so outstanding the waves are of little consequence.

[Bill Dix]

Beautiful light, beautiful wing position. Great exposure and detail as usual. I don't mind the waves, as they do suggest location, but it could also be a beauty with a plain BG. I could imagine just a tad more space to the left, and maybe below.

[Stu Bowie]

Arash, the waves dont distract at all, as the skimmer is seperated well enough. Good flying posture, tack sharp, and overall, well exposed too.

[Dan Behm]

Arash,
Absolutely beautiful, The details, exposure, angle of the bird to the viewer and light are perfect. The upbeat wing position displays the off wing topside and the fore wing beautifully. Love everything about it. I wonder how things may look if you took a smidge from the behind the bird and added it to the front. Great work, I wish it were mine!

Dan

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Arash, excellent angle of the bird...details, exp....rest everything is great. fine with the waves.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

here's a question for you. I know you shoot a lot in warm evening light. I suppose you expose to the right such that the red channel is not blown. correct or wrong?

a common problem I face in "very warm light for white birds" is that when you protect the red channel, the rest of the image becomes very dark for my taste. And then I have to lift the midtones part of the curve...which brings in noise in my 40D files...even the iso 400 ones. I guess the 1D files will not have that problem....would like to know your thoughts.

[arash_hazeghi]

here's a question for you. I know you shoot a lot in warm evening light. I suppose you expose to the right such that the red channel is not blown. correct or wrong?

a common problem I face in "very warm light for white birds" is that when you protect the red channel, the rest of the image becomes very dark for my taste. And then I have to lift the midtones part of the curve...which brings in noise in my 40D files...even the iso 400 ones. I guess the 1D files will not have that problem....would like to know your thoughts.

Hey Kaustubh,
What you mention is indeed an issue with birds that have both blacks and white, I try to exposure for the whites even if the rest of the photo is underexposed to keep all the highlight details, then I pull the shadows in post and apply NR. Fortunately the 1D can handle the shadow noise without much loss in details :S3:

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Arash, my question is do you expose for white or for red channel.....in warm light...say 15 min before sunset?

[arash_hazeghi]

Arash, my question is do you expose for white or for red channel.....in warm light...say 15 min before sunset?

red channel

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

thx a lot.

[Robert Holguin]

Wow!!!! Fantastic image, exposed perfectly, love the wing position, along with the nice warm light. I personally think the the waves are great as a background as it shows its habitat.
Well done.

[adrian dancy]

Superb flight shot. The waves have no real negative impact as the bird stands out well. If one were to have a portfolio of images depicting this species then I would have thought showing relevant habitat was mandatory. If this image were used for book illustration the crop is perfect but on the wall perhaps a bit more space in my humble opinion.