Up Up and Away

[Marina Scarr]

Photographed this Least Tern taking off down in Ft Myers. These birds are typically quite fast making it difficult to keep the center point on them during flight. Cropped from horizontal.

Canon 1D3, Canon 400 DO
F11, 1/2500sec, ISO 640, manual mode
Feisol tripod, Mongoose head

C & C always welcomed and much appreciated.

Marina Scarr
www.marinascarrphotography.com

[Melissa Groo]

Great job, Marina. I always find it toughest to keep the focus point on them when they're head on like this. Love the serrated look the feather tips give to the wing edges. Great head angle and like the feet still outstretched. Vertical was definitely the right comp to go with here.

[John Chardine]

Really fabulous Marina (hey that's my 400DO!!!). Love the feeling of action here. Beautiful complementary BG. Impossible to extract detail from the head blacks I am sure (the only thing for it would be soft light).

[gail bisson]

Great take off pose and tack sharp head.
BG makes it look like bird is above the clouds.
Would consider cropping from the bottom to get rid of OOF ? birds or just cloning them out.
Well done and good technique to get this incoming bird in focus,
Gail

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Oh Wow! Love the pose and composition. Sharpness is excellent! I agree with gail about the OOF on the bottom, but that's just getting picky. Did you have any others in this sequence?

[David Salem]

Great job Marina,

I shoot allot of Terns and know how much time it takes to come up with a decent frame.. This one is way better than decent. HA, BG, detail, exposure and feet position all make for a very pleasing image. Agree with Gail on foreground. Great Job....

David

[Marina Scarr]

Would consider cropping from the bottom to get rid of OOF ? birds or just cloning them out.Gail

There are no OOF birds, Gail. That is sand.

[Sachin Saraf]

Marina, love the take off pose, excellent HA, wing position and nice BG...Great job getting it in focus and sharp...

[Marina Scarr]

I agree with gail about the OOF on the bottom, but that's just getting picky. Did you have any others in this sequence?

There were others in the sequence which were actually quite good but I felt this one was the most unique.

As far as the OOF sand, unfortunately, the sand here in Florida isn't always flat and pristine, and I am not a big fan of altering my images.

[Grace Scalzo]

Love it as is, Marina. I feel as if the bottom gives it texture. As far as your subject, really a difficult capture, and yours is dynamic and full of interest.

[Arthur Morris]

Truly spectacular with super-sharp focus, a killer pose, hanging feet, a perfect exposure, a perfect head angle, and a creative crop. Wow!

[Josh Clark]

Rocked this one Marina! Love the flared out wings and HA. Tough birds to catch flight shots of. Outstanding job!

[Randy Stout]

Marina:

Really a nice and different view. Sharp, well exposed.

I think it needs all the room you have below to make the comp work. Could smooth the sand out, but it works for me as is, because its fairly soft and low contrast. I bit of clone stamp work could smooth it further, but I know you don't like to tinker too much.

Well captured.

Cheers

Randy

[Satish Ranadive]

Very very sweet image.Love it.

Regards,
Satish.

[Ofer Levy]

An impressive image! I love the unique pose and eye contact. Wish for a bit more room at the bottom.

[Ken Watkins]

Marina,

This is good as it gets

PS I thought the BG was cloud would never have guessed sand!

[Doug Brown]

Very nice photo Marina! Great eye contact, maximum wing upstroke, and excellent sharpness. I like the composition and the fact that the bird's head has cleared the sand.

[Peter Seidel]

This one really jumps off the screen. Especially considering the subject. Their erratic flying makes for tough shots. I agree with others on the framing - vertical really works.

Pete

[arash_hazeghi]

spectacular dynamic pose Marina! you nailed it

excellent :)

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Marina, love the extended wings, and I like the different angle of capture and overall comp. You certainly timed this well enough to get a great HA.

[Frank Schauf]

Really nice flight shot and great details, Marina.

[Bill Dix]

Sweet. Wonderful wing position and head turn, with a super comp. Tough birds to keep in focus when coming head on.

[Jim Crosswell]

Excellent image Marina! I like the unique pose, sharpness, HA and composition.

[Robert Holguin]

Wow!!!! Wonderful image. Love the pose, excellent head angle, exposed very well, and wonderful background.
Well done.

[Michael Zajac]

Awesome capture, I do see a slight halo around the wing tips. It needs more space on the bottom to me.