End of the Innocence

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

As hard as this shot was to take I knew I had to stay on it. This was the first frame of a sequence where this chick was actually killed for innocently roaming into the wrong nest. These skimmers are known for this behavior and it truly is heartbreaking to watch but it is the reality of the harshness of nature. It kind of changed my view of the loving tender way I used to see these birds from viewing those tender loving images we usually see. This behavior is displayed more than I care to imagine and one visit at the colony usually results in at least one witnessed killing. I am sad to report that the bad rains we had this past few days wiped out this colony of nesting skimmers as well as many other nesting shorebird colonies. Technically I am a little dissapointed as the chick appears soft to me but I wanted to share the image regardless.
I cleaned up the beach here and cropped about 40%
Camera Model Canon EOS-1D Mark III
Shooting Mode Manual Exposure
Tv( Shutter Speed ) 1/800
Av( Aperture Value ) 9.0
ISO Speed 800
Lens EF300mm f/2.8L IS USM +2.0x
Flash Exposure Compensation -1 Canon 580EXII better beamer

[Ofer Levy]

Behaviour captured is amazing!! However, IQ is not great with quite a bit of noise especially on the adult's head. Maybe starting from the RAW can fix that.

[Grace Scalzo]

Sure is hard to see, but the more time I spend photographing birds, the more I have come to realize that their instincts are strong and true and their behavior insures success of the colony. It's us who take away their habitat that really hurts them.
As for the image, thank you for sharing it. It looks a bit overflashed to me.

[Rachel Hollander]

Incredible behavior and I imagine, as you described, very tough to regularly witness. Good points above by Ofer and Grace.

TFS,
Rachel

[Sachin Saraf]

Incredible capture Cheryl...it does look over flashed as said by Grace...TFS

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Behaviour captured is amazing!! However, IQ is not great with quite a bit of noise especially on the adult's head. Maybe starting from the RAW can fix that.

OKay I took your suggestions (Thankyou) all of you and went back to raw and did much less processing. I feel the noise is better and not as bright. I think I did the overflashed look in PP. Better?

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Cheryl, this is not easy to see first hand, so very well done for being able to capture nature as it is supposed to be. Your repost does look so much better.

[Marina Scarr]

The repost looks much better in terms of noise and the sharpness of the poor chick. Although it does look better in terms of being overflashed, I wonder if someone might chime in on how to make a capture such as this look a tad less flashed?

[Ishmeet Sahni]

Cheryl, nature is not always the way we want it to be. Nature's sensibilities are very different from our's.
Its a sad, but, an amazing moment of nature at the same time........TFS.

[Davidwilliams]

Cheryl like the shot very much, if I could offer one view, the oof stone just above the adult beak is distracting to me, but truly a great image

[Ofer Levy]

Repost looks better. Doesn't look too over-flashed to me.

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Incredible behavior; tough to witness, I'm sure.
You've captured this so well. It doesn't look too over-flashed to me either, but you could increase the color temperature in raw or use a warming filter in PS to address it, if you wanted.
I'd remove the slight steel eye from the flash.

[dankearl]

Repost is very well done. The photo is brutal, but I would have taken this in a second.
As far as the processing, with photos like this, I am not sure it that important.

[rajojomanik]

It's hard to witness this type of bahavouir, not sure what I'll do in that situation.

Repost is definitely much better.

[gail bisson]

This is really good Cheryl.Amazing behavior shot. ( a contest entry for Arti'e contest next year perhaps?!) The repost is much better . I am in the camp that feels the image looks flashed but I think you can fix it by playing with a warming filter.
I would also do a bit of eye doctoring. Do these minor tweaks and ypou have yourself one heck of a shot.
Well done!!
Gail

[Tom Rambaut]

Great natural history image - sad but this happens out there. Well captured and powerful image.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Incredible behavior; tough to witness, I'm sure.
You've captured this so well. It doesn't look too over-flashed to me either, but you could increase the color temperature in raw or use a warming filter in PS to address it, if you wanted.
I'd remove the slight steel eye from the flash.

Thanks much everyone. Ahh Sidharth how could I miss the steel eye? I got the chicks didnt see the adults. I have warmed up the image and fixed the eye.

[Shawn Zierman]

Awesome image. I did not mind the flash work at all. The flash work provided a colder palette that suits this grizzly scene well imo.
No need to "warm up" this brutal side of nature....

[Ofer Levy]

I like the last repost even better.

[arash_hazeghi]

excellent interaction and light Cheryl, repost has removed the nosie

well done

[christopher galeski]

good capture,its nature in the raw,last repost the best.well done.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Amazing behaviour and sighting, and yes, I too would have taken this in a snap! Reposts look better, but both have a smoother smudgy area directly behind the eye that bothers me a bit...did you run more NR there than elsewhere?

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Amazing behaviour and sighting, and yes, I too would have taken this in a snap! Reposts look better, but both have a smoother smudgy area directly behind the eye that bothers me a bit...did you run more NR there than elsewhere?

Hi Daniel, actually I did not change the NR but I meant to remove that and forgot. I removed it for my final post. It is just the oof sand blobs I guess

[Frank Schauf]

The first repost looks much better, great scene, Cheryl.