Common tern feeding juvie #2

[gail bisson]

Taken in lousy light but I am still quite happy with this.
Canon 1D MKIV
F 500mm and 1.4X
SS 1/800
f 5.6
ISO 1600
On tripod, sitting in shallow water. Added canvas on left.
Usual PP- NR, levels, saturation,color balance (magenta reduced), detail extractor, USM on jpeg
Comments and critiques always appreciated and learned from with thanks,
Gail

[Randy Stout]

Gail:

Excellent interaction, very nice pose for adult, sharp.

I would consider a modest lifting of the midtones, gives a bit more pop to the image without changing the whites.

Did you need to do any work on a the adults eye?

Good shooting angle.

Cheers

Randy

[stuart wanuck]

interesting and nice interplay

[Jon Rista]

Great photo! I think I like this one a little bit more than the other. It feels a bit more dynamic, with the parent's wings wide, and the juvie with that cute little pose. I agree about perhaps lifting the midtones a bit, a little more contrast with the water would really help the birds pop.

[Jack Breakfast]

That light is awfully far from lousy. Nice interaction! Good looking! Nice palette here, soft and small and appealing.

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the interaction, catch, wing position, splash and BG. I agree it needs more contrast. Nice image Gail.

[Tobias Hayashi]

What a wonderful scene. Great work, love the poses of both fellas.

[Karl Egressy]

Beautiful action shot, Gail. "Lousy " ligt is always better than harsh light. Love the low angle, action wing position of the parent and the details of the young. It might need a little CCW rotation. Also there is a dark spot at the tail of the young one. You might want to clone it out, it would look better.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

I'd be happy to. Great low angle, interaction, adult wing position, chicks raised foot. There's alot to like Gail. I'd be tempted to lighten the adults eye and i'm thinking you already did.

[Shawn Zierman]

The drama and natural history, and the excellent use of your rig's capabilities (great image quality at high iso), has
yielded an excellent image, and more than made up for the "lousy" light. I agree that the image could use a ccw
rotation. This of course may lead to more work if you don't have the space on the left hand side for how close the adult's
wing will be to the edge of the frame once rotated....The eye of the adult looks fine to me, just looks like the nictating membrane is closed...

[David Salem]

Gail, Nice scene and I like it better than the first one. The sheen on the fish, the raised foot and open mouth on the baby and the water splash all add to the image. The slight flaws are the light quality witch can be helped with some contrast and sat boost and the closed nictitating membrane on the adult. Great Work

[Frank Schauf]

Excellent Pose and light, good exposure control, nice comp and good ambient, Gail.

[gail bisson]

Thanks for all the comments.
Randy and Cheryl- I dodged the eye once at 18% to lighten up but the nictitating membrane is closed so I didn't lighten it any more.
I played with the levels slider to boost the midtones but then the adults eye gets lost completely. Same with contrast adjustment. Will continue to experiment but if anyone has any tips I would love to hear them.
Shawn and Karl-agree it needs slight rotation.
Gail

[Melissa Groo]

This is pretty wonderful, Gail. I find it more engaging and appealing than the first. Love the wings up, the splash, the young one's lifted foot. You really did a great job.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Gail, great low shooting angle, and love the excitement from the chick with the raised foot anticipating his food. I like the show of the raised wings, softer light has helped with the whites, and the splash next to the adult, breaks the water BG nicely.

If the nictitating membrane is closed, there's not much you could have done with the eye.

[Dennis Zaebst]

Great action shot, and the soft light is what makes this one special...I wouldn't try to boost the contrast. Wonderful interaction between the two birds, and great low angle giving a sense of intimacy. I really like the OOF BG too. Very well done!

Best regards,
Dennis

[Bill Dix]

I love the soft feeling that the "lousy" light gave you on this one. I'd be cautious about boosting the contrast too much for fear of losing that lovely quality. Poses of both birds are just about perfect, interaction is great, terrific low POV. Lots to like.