Black Skimmer

[Joseph Przybyla]

Recently I was at Lake Mirror in Lakeland, Florida. A Black Skimmer caught my attention, it's behavior seemed different. Instead of flying just above the water and lowering it's bill into the water it would fly low over the water and then crash dive into the water. This image captures a part of that behavior. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.

Nikon D7000
Nikon 80-400mm F/4.5-5.6 VRII AF-S ED shot at 400mm (600mm FFE)
1/1600 F/5.6 Matrix Metering 0 EV ISO 360
Post processed in Lightroom 5 and Photoshop Elements 10

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Joseph, dramatic action captured here, especially with all the large drops of flying water. Do you think the Skimmer was purposely 'crashing' into the water? Comp wise, I would take a bit off the bottom.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Hi Stuart, will look into taking a little off the bottom. Yes, the skimmer was purposely crashing into the water. I thought maybe imitating the feeding behavior of terns which actively feed in this lake. I think when the skimmer saw a fish it dove into the water trying to catch it, not sure though.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Here is a repost, I took a little off the left and bottom.

[Alan Murphy]

Great action and timing. My biggest nit is the large drop of water covering the eye.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Thank you for viewing and commenting Alan. I saw the drop, kind of went both ways regarding removing it. Here is a edit with the drop removed. Easy fix.

[keith mitchell]

Must say I like it more with the drop near the eye removed, great action with all that splashing water, very well caught Joe.

Keith.

[Karl Egressy]

Nice dynamic action shot and great PP work, especially with the water droplet covering the eye, Joe.

[Loi Nguyen]

Great action shot and behavior capture. I actually prefer the original comp though. It's pity about the water drop right over the eye. I'd have removed it too if the image were mine. TFS. Loi