I went to the East Pond of Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge after work hoping for shorebird pics but the birds remained very distant and were not cooperative at all. So I gave up and just laid down in the mud to see if I could get a water level angle on skimmers. This Black Skimmer made one pass by near where I was. Shot is full frame. As the bird is flying just slightly to our right I left the spacing as it was in the frame. I wish there was just a bit more room all the way around but I only had a split second to get the bird as it rounded around a flock of Canada Geese and headed towards me. It never came my way again before the sun set behind the phragmites.
Canon 7d2 and Canon 500mm f4 ii + 1.4x iii. Tripod mounted with legs fully extended. ISO 500, F 7.1, SS 1/2000. Focus point on the top of the head just slightly above the eye.
Converted in DPP 4. Auto White Balance. Exposure +.33. Shadows +2, Highlights -2. In PS I used a combination of NIK Detail extractor, Tonal Contrast and White Neutralizer. Sharpened and applied noise reduction to background.
Very well captured, great point of view, pleasant bg, nice vee of wings.
Yes, a sliver more room would be nice. Easy to add if you really want to. If mine, would add a bit on the left, and be happy with the framing because of the head angle.
Dumb question. Or maybe not so dumb? Are you saying that you would add canvas on the left and take some from the right? Or you would add on the left and leave the right the way it is. As this is full frame already, I honestly have no clue how to make it bigger than the original file.
Great capture, Isaac. That's what I like about Jamaica Bay. You can easily get this low, albeit in the mud, eye to eye with the birds. Beautiful light, detail and BG for this Skimmer. Attached is my take on adding a bit of canvas to the left. I also took the liberty of removing what looked to be a possible dust bunny, more likely a soft ripple in water, far left about 1/2" in above the sharp water line. Hope you don't mind my adding more canvas and spot removal.
Geoffrey
Last edited by Geoffrey Montagu; 07-25-2016 at 08:50 AM.
Geoffrey I do not mind at all. It looks better. Thanks. Randy, I know how to add canvas, have done it many times. As silly as it may seem, I just never realized that you could go bigger than the original file. Had I known that I would have added canvas before posting. Thanks for the info. Good learning experience for me.
Wowza, I have been observing these birds here in Bolsa Chica and would occasionally take pictures of them to no success. I love how you capture the bird about to make a turn here. I think the canvas extension that Geoffrey showed works really well to give the left hand side a little more room to breathe.
Black Skimmer
Reply With Quote
