Catcher on the Fly - Forster's Tern

[Jay Ing]

Enjoyed shooting terns end of last week. Good tracking experience/learning. Mostly working on following the hover, drop, entry/exit. Lots of erratic movement so working to determine best SS for such action/movements. Thankfully had good light (if a bit strong) - so could have - and it looks like SHOULD have bumped my SS up a notch or two. With that -- sharper image (?)... but... for what it is, I like the action. Hope to return for a second "show" end of this week.

Details:

Sony A9ii + 200-600, 2500, 400, 330mm, 6.3, HH, C1P/PS

[arash_hazeghi]

love the angle and the water drops, nailed the action here. details are bit coarse and lacking to be honest, is it a big crop?

[Jay Ing]

Yes, more crop than one wants - maybe 40%. This from having to be zoomed out enough to track the subject in the drop "phase" of the sequence. Might either have to pre-focus on the potential "drop zone" and forgo the hover and descent sequence. Wanted it all though - and think - with practice it might be able to grab details with greater success.

[Brian Sump]

Jay, love the title

So the a9ii is FF at 24 mp right, so cropping would be similar to a Nikon D500 which is a crop sensor at 21mp? This was very close to being a top-shelf image but agree with Ari, just a bit too much loss in IQ.

Superb action though! TFS

[John Mack]

Love the splashing water and that view of the fish. Neat pose as well.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Hi Jay, wonderful wing position and the fish really adds to the image. I have to agree with Arash regarding the detail, also the blacks on my display appear blocked. Thank you for sharing.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Ditto the others, but fun action for sure! It would be tough to pre-focus on an anticipated "drop zone" as you do not know ahead of time exactly where it will touch the water. I think following the hover/drop and then trying to stop panning as it hits the water would be your best bet, but even then that is a tough shoot, especially if the subject is big in the frame. Keep at it, this is what it's all about!

[arash_hazeghi]

Hi Joel
I know we talked but wanted to point out a few things for others too

first I don't bother with hover, those shots are usually not great (steep angle, bad light, etc.) . I just watch for the splash, after the splash you got 1-4 seconds to lock on the splash before the tern comes out and pulls up. The Sony A9II will then track and nail it. How much you can crop depends on how sharp the raw is, with that 200-600 it's a tough call to make large crops, ain't gonna work. when you get your big six you can easily make more than 50% crops that will be just fine

here is photo taken at the same location, tern missed and came out with a big mouth instead of fish. Light angle wasn't as good as yours (strong highlights and shadows) but just to show the IQ.... this was 8.5 mega pixels or about 35% of the original after cropping. Also later in the evening is better since heat shimmers calm down a bit. at 6PM it's sometimes a waste of time over the lake because of the shimmers


cheers

[Dorian Anderson]

The action ins money, but the IQ unfortunately holds this image back. Fortunately, terns usually give you multiple opportunities one day to the next, so I think a return visit to get a similar but
sharper frame is in order. I think I know where this was taken and will be visiting the spot in the next few weeks. Maybe I'll run into you!

[Jay Ing]

I'm planning to go over from 4:30 till sundown or so on Friday. Come if you can..

[Jay Ing]

Ditto the others, but fun action for sure! It would be tough to pre-focus on an anticipated "drop zone" as you do not know ahead of time exactly where it will touch the water. I think following the hover/drop and then trying to stop panning as it hits the water would be your best bet, but even then that is a tough shoot, especially if the subject is big in the frame. Keep at it, this is what it's all about!

Thanks Dan.

By drop zone pre-focus I was just meaning to forgo trying to capture the hover and drop and prep the shot for entry (if lucky) and exit (more likely). Yes, the drop all over the place so one never knows. I'll give it a few more visits with the 2-6 and then should have my 600 and see what its like with that lens. Cheers.