A Perfect Ten?

This image was created at 6:11pm in very soft sunlight on the Nickerson Baby Beach Nesting Bird IPT with theGitzo 3532 LS carbon fiber tripod, the Mongoose M3.6 head, the
Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens and the Canon EOS-1D X Digital SLR camera. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +2 1/3 stops off the light blue sky: 1/1600 sec. at f/4.5 in Manual mode.
Central Sensor/AI Servo/Surround Rear Focus AF on the point where the lower right flank meets the base of the far wing was active at the moment of exposure. Click here if you missed the Rear Focus Tutorial.

Persistence and Determination Trump Poor Hand Eye Coordination

Good numbers of adult Common Terns were diving for baitfish in the wash, the shallow breaking surf. I stood in the same spot in about a foot of water for about 2 hours. Again.
I created more than 800 flight images. Most of them featured the birds either flying right at me (from east to west into the wind as I looked east) or kiting as they got ready to dive for Atlantic Silversides, the spearing of my childhood that we used as bait for snapper blues. About half of the images were sharp. Of those, more than 9 of every 10 were of what Denise Ippolito and I call the “Who Cares?” variety, i.e., sharp but nothing special. After an hour I noticed that some of the birds that were flying the “wrong” way, from west to east with the wind, would bank and turn nearly upside down as they dove for one of the small fish. I acquired focus on each bird that flew by me and then hoped that it would turn and dive. Most did not. Several, including the bird in today’s featured image, did. I pretty much jerked the lens down hard and right to focus track while striving to keep the bird completely in the frame. Of the very few chances that I had, I wound up clipping something. Except in the single very sharp image above.

To see both the original and the BreezeBrowser screen capture showing the active AF point click here.

As for the image, don't be shy: all comments are welcome. Microscopic and LAB color analyses are not needed :S3:.

Hi Arthur
Don't understand all this focus stuff but all I know is that it,s an excellent tern shot. Great positioning and exposure. I must get my Nikon book out and read up on the servo stuff etc.
JohnR

I like the angle you captured here, The whites look nice, but the splayed tail feathers are superb. My monitor is showing a faint but straight color shift in the LLC.

Dynamic pose. Sweet even lighting and a perfect exposure. Subject placement within the frame is definitely a 10. Robert was spot on regarding the llc, which I believe is accounted for by your rotation of the frame to adjust the bird's flight angle for compositional purposes....if I remember reading your excellent blog correctly....easy fix. I did not use a microscope to see the straight edged line :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Robert Kimbrell

I like the angle you captured here, The whites look nice, but the splayed tail feathers are superb. My monitor is showing a faint but straight color shift in the LLC.

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Thanks Robert. I missed that while angling the bird. Will repair and repost it here. Just one of the many reasons that I love BPN: the more eyes the better!

Thanks again to Robert Kimbrell for noting the problem lower left with my not so perfect image :S3: I repaired it here quickly and easily with a flopped Quick Mask from the lower right corner.

A keeper for sure, the spread tail feathers, crossed feet and wing spread make the image special. Exposure and focus are spot on. A reference image I shall use for what my terns should look like. Thank you for sharing.

I can relate the "who cares" variety of flight images as I just photographed a bunch of in-flight Great Black-backed and Herring Gulls. While most feature a good angle and many are sharp and unclipped, most were of the "blah" wing positions variety. Once in a while though you get one that makes you say "YESSS!!" :S3:. The one you posted would be one of those "YESSS!" ones...To make a perfect ten would have the lower wing almost as fully straight and long as the one on top...but this is still a more than solid 9.9! I really enjoy the feather details, super nice.

Thanks Dan and agree. There is actually what I consider a slightly more problematic flaw that was partially dealt with during the image optimization. If anyone checks out the original on the blog post it should be fairly obvious to experience folks. You can see the problem here but its impact has been greatly minimized....

Very nice.
I like the fanned tail and crossed feet most of all. Would have loved to see a full wing extension on the far wing but still a very dynamic image.
Whites and details in them are excellent,
Gail

Hi Artie, I too love the fanned tail and the tucked in feet. Exposure and sharpness are spot on.
I felt the OP has too much space on the right. I usually don't go for squarish comps, but I felt that with the strong diagonals, it would work for this image.
Here's a repost, hope you don't mind.

Truly perfect Ten....... :S3: . Great shot Artie.

Great rarely captured pose. Perfect exposure, sharpness and details.

Awesome shot Arthur. Unique wing position. I really like the top wing and tail! Brilliant capture. (If the lower wing was similar to the top one, this would have been even better.) Well done!

Excellent flight pose and sharp details.

very nice dive with good exposure