Practice time, version 2

[Grace Scalzo]

I posted an image a few days ago called "Practice Time" and Artie said he would like to see a flatter flying position. Turns out, I have skimmers in just about every position possible from that session.
Personally, I think the other one tells a better story an has a bit more interest, but I'm too close to it to be objective and would love your opinions.

1/4000, f8, iso800
Canon 5Dmk3, 500 f4 + flattened tripod

[Karl Egressy]

Excellent super low angle shot, Grace. Were you in the water? You must have been.

[Marina Scarr]

While this is also a very pleasing image, Grace, I have to go with image #1 for the same reasons you state, but the tail on #1 really works.

[Grace Scalzo]

Thank you for your opinion, Marina, and Karl, for your comment. I was kind of in the water, right on the edge of a tidal pool. Foolishly I did not have my waders along and had an hour drive home in my wet and filthy clothes.

[Melissa Groo]

I'm with Marina on this. The tail on the other, the head on pose, and the line of the birds body slanting across the background colony in that other one is more aesthetically pleasing and interesting to me. This is super too though!

[Bill Dix]

I'll go with the others. The low angle on this is terrific, and I like the layered horizontals (including the flat wing position that adds to the effect) even though I find the oof colony on the beach to be distracting. But I'd vote for #1.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

I like this Grace. The bg has an interesting layer effect and also adds to the story of this younster out practicing not far away from the safety of his "family"

[RakeshDhareshwar]

I can see the effort behind this one !! Congrats and Kudos !! I feel the Bg takes away a bit from the exciting action in the foreground . Am sure a closer crop of the action will take it over the top !!!! BTW , the #1 images is also brilliant !!

[Miguel Palaviccini]

This shot is worth a long drive in filthy clothes! I'm usually not a fan of an "uneven" background, but the oof skimmers add quite a bit!

[David Salem]

Very nice low angle and I like the comp. Nice and sharp too. Good Job

David

[gail bisson]

I think I like this one better.It is a "cleaner" shot without the second bird but I do miss the fanned diagonal tail. I like all the horizontal lines in this image.
I love the sharpness of the incoming skimmer and appreciate how hard it is to do this.
I find the OOF birds a bit bright and distracting and would tone that down.
I really like the panorama crop and this would look very good in a 3' X 1'6"!!
Gail

[Nico Steenberg]

Great timing and angle captured !

[Shawn Zierman]

I would not pick one over the other. They are both excellent images. This one has a pleasing tighter view on the fg action (very sharp), and does not have
the merge with the background birds like the other image had. However, I don't think this image has the complexity of the first image in regards
to having a second bird skimming and the added difficulty of making that work with body profiles and head angles...

[Jim Crosswell]

Beautiful image Grace! I like the low angle, layers from FG to BG, OOF colony and composition. If I had to pick I would go with this one.

[arash_hazeghi]

sweet! love the pose and low angle. this is one those shots that looks much more impressive when viewed at larger size

[Troy Lim]

I love the inclusion of the skimmers in the BG...nice angle...very nice.

[Robert Holguin]

Wonderful shot. Very nice light, great skimming pose, and I personally like the background.
Well done.