Arctic Tern

[Ivan Ellison]

Not been doing much due to work. Had a few nice days off and a trip to the Farne islands off the Northumbrian coast was planned for one of them. First time I had visited. Brilliant place and one that every birdwatcher / photographer must visit at least once. For anyone visiting the UK come between May-July to get the best from the nesting birds
The day started bright but the sky turned grey after a short time . This is the first time I have used flash on birds in flight. Not too sure how to get the best. I tried different power settings and settled on 1/2 power, high speed synch. The terns are very quick and come close- pecking your head and camera at times. It was a little too strong at times( and not enough at others) but have managed to pull the details back- I think- on this shot.
This is a full uncropped image
Any advice of flash for white birds in flight will be very much appreciated as I may visit again in the next few weeks if the weather allows.
Canon 1DmkIV. Canon 100-400 set at 100 mm for this shot.
1/2000, f 5.6. ISO 800

[arash_hazeghi]

I like the dynamic pose, flashing a white bird in flight will be difficult, the whites look grey on my screen (under exposed or too much recovery?). I wish for more detail in the blacks.

you can also try cloning out the band.

TFS

[Joe Subolefsky]

Agree with all the above except cloning out the band. Not the case here but getting a readable band on a BIF shot is one of the ultimate challenges IMOP.

[arash_hazeghi]

A band is not a natural part of the bird, it is man made and thus not desirable for an avian shot...

[adrian dancy]

Superb dynamic pose.

I agree with Arash that photographing a white bird with flash can be very tricky but Arctic Terns are not white they are light grey, the amount of grey they show depends on age and season.

Some of the truly white parts here are over exposed namely the collar area. The body of the bird and some of the wing has had too much recovery but not as much as one might think. I say this because the recovery is showing a lot of detail and not the blocked out greying one sometimes sees when recovery has been attempted and when, as is often the case, there is not much detail anyway. The blacks in the head can show a bit more detail here than is presented but don't push it too much. All in all it should be an easy fix and if you so wish a darkened sky will produce added drama.

It remains in any event that these and many other terns are notoriously difficult to image.

[adrian dancy]

A band is not a natural part of a bird's anatomy for sure. Human beings are a part of nature and it is our nature to band birds so in a sense the image showing the bird is 'natural' and it is what the photographer saw. Cloning may give an appearance of 'natural' but the image then becomes tarred and not 'strictly' natural. The only alternative is to find a bird that is not ringed. That may be difficult on the Farne islands especially given the limited time you have to image the birds, remembering also that those birds which hover above you are the ones defending the nest near a footpath which you are not allowed to stray from, which inevitably means they are probably going to be the birds easiest to band. I agree with Arash that from a photographers point of view photographing a bird with a band is not the most desirable.

If one is to place too much emphasis on a band or ring or hand of man elements then one could equally condemn set up shots showing birds perched on certain types of mossy branches bathed in sunshine or birds perching on plants that are not indigenous to the bird's vicinity and so it goes on, including the use of flash. There is really no authority here just personal choice.

Edit spelling.

[Joe Subolefsky]

Everyone is entitled to there own opinion but the fact is banded birds are a big thing among those photographing waterfowl on the east coast and Midwest.
Personally I setup at several waterfowl festivals each year and my banded pics sell every bit as well if not better then non banded. Of course I'm speaking about wild banded birds. Heck even the latest issue of Wildfowl has a 7 page story on banded waterfowl photography.

Some photographers even specifically target banded eagles at the Conowingo Dam and some of those birds will have 2,3 even 4 bands.

[adrian dancy]

Arash , respectfully, I have merely elaborated or drawn a parallel on a point which you had raised! The fact that you may disagree is irrelevant. The point I have made has been made before by others in the photographic forums and no moderator has intervened. The forums also contain more off topic matters than what has been referred to here, some of which are made and started by moderators. I have no problem with that. My comments were completely objective and followed yours and on the matter of the band I agreed with you! However it begs the question that if a poster chooses to submit an image of a banded bird should we comment on it? After all it would be difficult for a poster not to know of its existence. Clearly the photographer will know that some will not be endeared to it in the same way that others may have reservations about unnatural set-ups (which I also do not generally have a problem with but some do). At the head of this forum it is stated that elements including the hand of man are permitted. So if you wish to start a topic in the General Photography I will be happy to contribute since you are the one that raised the issue.

[Arthur Morris]

Just getting back from 5 great days in the UK. I will step in here with a few comments.

1-I lean very much to the liberal side and encourage far-ranging discussions that are related to the originally posted image as the discussion on the band in this image is.
2-Yes, hand of man elements are fine in Avian.
3-From an artistic standpoint I would greatly prefer to photograph unbanded birds. I have no qualms about removing a band; I often make two versions of such images as photos of banded birds are of scientific value.
4-I have no clue at all why anyone would want to photograph a banded bird and no clue as to why anyone would want to buy a print of a banded bird. Except for maybe the researcher who banded it.

Respectfully

[Ivan Ellison]

Thanks all for your comments. Didn't realise it would cause problems with the band. As Adrian says it can be difficult to get an unringed bird close to the footpaths. You only have a limited time on the islands to reduce the disturbance and this was the bird I chose to wait near to as it attacked passers by. I wasn't causing it any issues as I was sat on the floor waiting for other people to come close.- I did see one chick get steeped on by a big lump waving his arms around like a child at the birds dive-bombing him -it wasn't you Art as I was there a few days before you.
Anyway apart from Arash some advice on using flash was what I wanted- any help please!!

[adrian dancy]

Let me no when you go back to the Farne Islands

[Arthur Morris]

Ivan, You did not cause any problems nor did the band :).

As to the flash, using manual flash at 1:2 with birds at close range is not a good plan. You should only be working with Manual Flash when the distance to the bird will be a constant. Try using High Speed Synch with the flash in ETTL set to -2 stops along with the proper exposure. Try to adjust your ISO so that you wind up with a shutter speed of no more than 1/1000 sec.

You can learn more about the above and everything that I know about using fill flash, flash as main light, and manual flash for nature photography in the Flash Simplified section of ABP II.

[Ivan Ellison]

Thanks Art for this advice. Will try this with the flash next time I get out there. Will be ordering your e book after next pay day