Royal Terns in Full Breeding Plumage

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

Hi All,

My Preparations for moving to Utah has kept me buy last couple of weeks. I decided this is the best time to upgrade my D7100 to d500. While I wait for new camera, I was going through my previous shots and found this interesting one.

Royal Terns in Full Breeding Plumage shot during flooding in Beach. They loved the water in the beach and started playing. We had thunderstorms in Galveston, TX and once rain stopped I quickly went to the beach to see shore birds. This was shot in completely overcast day.

Let me know your thoughts on the same.

Camera Settings:-
Nikon d7100, ISO 500, f/6.3, 1/1250 sec using Skimmer pod shot at 600mm

Post Processing:-

Software used Lightroom, Elements 13 and Nik Collection

Lightroom:-

• Cropping
• Exposure +2.10
• Highlights - 20
• Whites +15
• Blacks - 47
• Clarity 30
• Vibrance 31

Elements 13:-

• Cloning - Top removed green and brown background
• Lens spots cleaning
• Levels Adjustment
• Reducing Blue cast
• Increasing Brightness

Nik Define 2:-

• Selective Noise Reduction

Thanks
Krishna

[Diane Miller]

Unusual and very nice!! I like the repetition of the two poses with the slight differences. Looks like they are having fun! Good sharpness and great feather detail on the front one, very nice tonalities.

Is it possible to bring out the eyes? I think that's not easy with these birds, though. Or maybe the eyes are closed?

[Adhika Lie]

Hi Krishna, I love the composition on this image. No, I adore it. I love terns in an image, I think they are one of the most elegant birds out there and I would never think of making composition like this. Now, I am inspired.

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

Unusual and very nice!! I like the repetition of the two poses with the slight differences. Looks like they are having fun! Good sharpness and great feather detail on the front one, very nice tonalities.

Is it possible to bring out the eyes? I think that's not easy with these birds, though. Or maybe the eyes are closed?

Thank you for the feedback.

I did enhance (add small catch light) to the right most tern. The lighting conditions were not ideal with overcast skies. I think this is a good candidate for flash with better beamer to get the catch light in the eyes. I think fill flash will really make a big difference to this picture.


Thanks
krishna

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

Hi Krishna, I love the composition on this image. No, I adore it. I love terns in an image, I think they are one of the most elegant birds out there and I would never think of making composition like this. Now, I am inspired.

Thank you for your kind words.

[Glennie Passier]

Very nice Krishna! Like Adhika, I really like the composition and pose of the birds. Something different. I like the very basic palette here as well!

[Warren Spreng]

Nice Krishna! I found it extremely difficult to try and bring any details to their eyes when I was shooting them, I think it is how their brow shades them.

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

Very nice Krishna! Like Adhika, I really like the composition and pose of the birds. Something different. I like the very basic palette here as well!

Thank you

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

Nice Krishna! I found it extremely difficult to try and bring any details to their eyes when I was shooting them, I think it is how their brow shades them.

Yeah I was going through all my shots taken for terns, seems i don't see any good ones with details in their eyes. May be you are correct.

[Robert Kattanek]

I like the very basic palette here as well!

That, to me, is one of the most striking aspects of this photo as well, especially with the beaks really being the only colour spot here. Really makes for a great mood.
And also, I love terns, so beautiful and elegant.

Thank you very much for sharing this great image with us.