Two Common Terns

[Carl Albro]

[IMG][/IMG]
Image taken yeterday at 8am from beached kayak on Bassett Island Cape Cod Massachusets.
Mostly Sunny with light wind from my right
Canon 5D Mark III with Canon 300mm F2.8 II with 2x extender III
TV 1/2000 at f5.6 with +1EV Bias ISO 640
Cropped 5760x3840 image to 3429 x 2286 to create a diagonal with the birds
Bulk of post-process in Lightroom 4.1
Sharpen Amount 40, Radius 0.8, Detail 38, Mask 56
Lum. Noise Reduction 24
Reduced exposure -0.24
Highlights -62
Shadows +40
Clarity +40
Vibrance +19
Last step - Opened in Photoshop and added 124 pixel band at top to give room for the top bird who's wing was at the very edge

Carl Albro

[Ian Cassell]

Hi Carl. I really like this interaction shot and, from what I can tell on my crummy computer here at work, your techs look good. I love the diagonal orientation of the terns in the frame. I would be tempted to add even more room on the LHS/top as I feel that wing is still a bit crowded.

[Kerry Perkins]

Hi Carl, welcome to ETL and BPN! A lot of acronyms, I know, but you are the best place on the web to learn about bird photography and using your gear.

I really like the composition and action captured here. Exposure is good with the whites under control and the color balance looks great to my eye. You barely got the eye on the upper bird, but you did get in there an it makes a big difference. At f/5.6, your DOF budget was pretty small, but you got good sharpness on the lower bird - only marginally softer on the other one. This is really a tricky exposure problem for the camera and I'm curious as to why you don't just go manual mode and take control of the camera. I would have shot this at ISO 400 with f/5.6 and 1/4000 or f/7.1 and 1/3200, based on your report of sunny skies. With the changing background that can be clearly seen in this image, the camera meter is going to keep changing the aperture and maybe ISO and will only be "right" once in a while. If you set the camera manually to expose for the subjects, you will be right all of time unless the light on the subject changes, in which case you simply adjust the shutter speed without even taking your eye away from the viewfinder.

Looking forward to more of your images!