Testing the waters

[Grace Scalzo]

At the end of the nesting season, the juvenile skimmers spend time at the water's edge. They skim their beaks across the sand with their butts up and when they reach the water, and waves and wind are favorable, up they go, into flight. If not, they just retreat and try again. I created this image at very last light and was trying to get a nice blur to the water.

1/250., f 5.6, iso1600
Canon 1dx, 600f4, lowered rrs tripod

[Lyle Gruby]

This is really cool, what a great compositional idea. I love everything about it, but I wish I could see just a tiny bit more of the bird's eye/face.

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Grace,

Great timing to get a photo with the eye out of the water. I'm a fan of the foreground, with a nice lead into the bird. I might take a bit off the top as I'm not sure it adds much.

Miguel

[Melissa Groo]

Beautiful composition, and that light is exquisite, Grace. Super detail on the young skimmer's plumage. I too wish I could see a bit more of his face, but I still think it is a very neat and artistic image.

[Alan Murphy]

Just seeing part of the eye makes the shot for me. Very nice and different.

[Iain Barker]

Great image of this birds behavior. I like the fact the bird is frozen but with movement showing in the wave.
I usually like to see the whole eye and this was my first thought but it does seem to work in this image.

[gail bisson]

very cool and unusual Grace.I really like how the bird is positioned in the trough of the wave.
I like how you think out of the box.
bird is tack sharp at 1/250- amazing. I think you got a bit wet taking this shot!
Gail