Black Skimmer at Marco Island

This was was taken out on Tigertail Island out on Marco Island. Access to Tigertail was via a boat thanks to Capt. Michael Tateo. We got some full frame shots of Frigatebirds, Least Terns, and Skimmers. Here is a shot of a skimmer banking in before landing with the group (approximately 60-70 total). I cropped the bottom wingtip on this one, so I took the bottom wingtip of the same bird in the next frame (which I had cropped the top wing!) and combined the two. I later took the TC off, giving me a bare 500 on FF.

Fun fact: A group of Skimmers is often referred to as a conspiracy (not sure who comes up with this stuff!).

It's getting tough keeping track of the days. I go out, shoot, come back to upload/sort/edit, then go back out (not complaining, I love this!)

Shooting Info:
Nikon D800 | 500 f/4
1/2000" | f/8 | ISO 400

Lovely pose captured here in air, i love the 2 tone BG here sets up the bird very nicely
i would not have made out the wing work done if you would not have mentioned, wonderful work there too
Composition works nicely for my eye

At the risk of sounding a lot like the jerk on my blog the other day, you can do a lot better.... The image looks overall too bright and the backlit trailing edge looks toasted for sure. Good job on the wingtip repair and a nice bit of yellow coming in on the undersides of the top wing. The biggest problem is that the bird has already turned away from you. Was this a vertical original?

Light look a bit harsh here, I like the banking pose but would have loved to see more eye detail and agree with image being a bit bright. I look forward to seeing more Miguel.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Arthur Morris

At the risk of sounding a lot like the jerk on my blog the other day, you can do a lot better.... The image looks overall too bright and the backlit trailing edge looks toasted for sure. Good job on the wingtip repair and a nice bit of yellow coming in on the undersides of the top wing. The biggest problem is that the bird has already turned away from you. Was this a vertical original?

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Artie, I post here to get critiqued if the image needs it, not to be told that my images are "good", "great", "amazing". So I appreciate the comments! I agree that the biggest problem is the already turned bird. Not much I could do about the blown whites on the trailing edge ... I played with the light that I was dealt :) The shot was a horizontal, cropped to a vertical.

Good attitude, and YAW. Assuming that you had more than one chance the trick in these situations is to adjust the exposure to keep the the blinkies in the baclklit whites to a very minimum.

I'm a big fan of going after the positive, as you can always find a lot of good in a picture at this level I would say.
I don't feel like I should be critical; I let the experts do it.
In this case I really like the banking pose.
I was shooting them while in Florida and never got one in a banking pose so I appreciate seeing one.

Nice underside view of the widespread wings. Excellent wingtip repair and the bg--perfect.

Miguel:
Beautiful banking pose,you have captured.I like the pp skills.
Nice advice by our Guruji, Arthur Sir.

Regards,
Satish.