Common Tern Protecting It's Catch

[John Flynn]

I caught a common tern protecting its catch from some laughing gulls which were intent on stealing it. I had seen the behavior many times so I decided to stop down and try to catch the action. Canon 1DX, 840mm (600+ 1.4), F9, ISO 800 HH. Vertical crop from a horizontal. Comments and critiques welcome!

[gail bisson]

Hi John,
I like the behavior portrayed here and the composition with the stacked birds. I would crop a bit from the bottom if the IQ doesn't suffer any more.
I see a dust spot below the bottom birds wing (easy fix)
The light was quite harsh here and made for tricky exposure and shadows but you did quite well.
I wish the 2 middle gulls did not intersect one another and that the tern was looking towards the gulls or that we could see the eye.
I see some real possibilities for a great image with better light. You say you see this behavior quite a lot so I would definitely go back out again with this image design in your head,
Gail

[Arthur Morris]

Nicely done. May I assume that this was at Nickerson? It looks like the tern has a snapper blue, i.e., a baby Bluefish. Had the gull on top been 2 feet to your right several problems would have been resolved :).

[John Flynn]

I made the changes. Personally to my eye I liked the previous crop. I had anticipated it as a probable critique but I liked the appearance of the tern placed to the top of the frame because it suggests the tern fleeing from the harassing gulls to me: kind of perched on the top of the image. I had also tried some highlight recovery and I lessened that and lightened the shadows a bit so hopefully the image appears less harsh. The light wasn't actually that bad. Nickerson is a 4 hour drive for me and this was the best I could get with the time that I had. When I went back this Friday it seemed like the laughing gulls were not as interested in harassing the terns.
Yes Artie, this was Nickerson... I really wished I was able to attend the IPT but it wasn't in the finances right now. I'm planning on making a move to Florida and I should be able to take some IPTs down there. Nickerson truly is a sight!

[Karl Egressy]

Great behavior image. The repost looks better.

[Shawn Zierman]

Compositionally, regarding the use of space, I think the repost is an improvement. There is still a dust sensor spot visible an inch above your sig...I also wonder about warming the white balance slightly prior to RAW conversion...