Common Tern after bath

[Bill Dix]

It must have been bath time for the terns when I arrived at the tip of Sandy Hook on Thursday morning. I sat on the beach and watched as they splashed around, totally submerged themselves and then did their wing stretches. Occasionally one would pop up completely out of the water for a few wing flaps, and then settle back down for another dip. Cropped from horizontal.

D7000, 500f4, ISO 800, 1/1600s @ f/7.1 manual, lowered Gitzo and Mongoose

[Melissa Groo]

Great capture, Bill. I really like this pose, the water droplets, the feet, and the details in the wings. I could see another version that has some cropped off left and bottom, but still nice as presented.

[Ofer Levy]

Excellent capture! Lovely action, pose, sharp with good detail and exposure.

[Grace Scalzo]

Fantastic, Bill. Love the position of the bird in the frame, great leaping pose, and flying water droplets.

[Craig Kerr]

Image shows a natural setting with wonderful detail, love the water droplets falling away from the bird.
Excellent timing too !!

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Bill, love the 'playful' inflight pose, and overall well exposed with good sharpness. Of course the droplets add, and the tern is seperated from the water BG nicely.

[Frank Schauf]

Really nice flight shot and great details, Bill.

[Randy Stout]

Bill:

Very nice for the reasons mentioned above. Terns are such elegant creatures. Well captured and composed.

Cheers

Randy

[Joe Senzatimore]

It pays to sit and watch the behavior. Then it is not as hard to time and capture the peak moment , as you have done here. Well executed.

[gary ellwein]

Well done Bill. The image is nicely exposed with great feather detail. The image and narrative allow us to share your morning at the beach.

[dankearl]

Really nice details and superb wing position and pose.
Excellent!

[Daniel Cadieux]

Yep, anytime you see a bathing bird keep your lens on it! Awesome outstretched wings and I like the water drops. I'm personally torn on the comp...I feel there is too much room below, but at the same time I like that we can see the surface of the water.

[Josh Clark]

Outstanding flight shot! Really love the wing flare and water droplets.

[Jim Crosswell]

Excellent image Bill. I like the wing position, water drops and exposure.

[Ken Watkins]

A wonderful capture of the "moment", thanks for sharing

[Bill Dix]

Thanks, everyone, for the kind comments.

Daniel, I did ponder the crop, and tried a horizontal version (shown here as a traditional 3:2) as well as the vertical OP. Since the bird's motion was mostly up and down rather than forward, I felt the vertical better expressed that. But I guess there are arguments for both.

[Karl Egressy]

Different folks, different taste. Personally I like the vertical (original) better.
I like the wing position, feather details, pose overall and the water droplets, Bill.

[Marina Scarr]

The vertical crop I find more powerful and I would stick with it. Great action captured here, and just love the pose of the wings and the water droplets.