Tern Turn

[Brian Sump]

A Least Tern in Colorado?? ..... not very often.

This one was actually taken in Mexico. My wife and I rented a Jeep and drove to the east shoreline on Cozumel. As we cruised down the coast to the south, I noticed a flock of smaller white shorebirds so she was gracious enough to let me pull over and shoot.

I believe it was a breeding ground so I stood on the shoulder of the road and watched them take off, bank at the horizon and return to the nests. It was super fun for me as I don't get to shoot oceanic shorebirds often.

Hope you enjoy.

Canon R5
RF 100-500mm
Handheld
ISO 1600
1/5000
f7.1

LR and PS, DN. Nothing cloned or added.

[arash_hazeghi]

nice dorsal view of the least tern, one of my favorite terns. nice exposure and the wing position, in a perfect world you would have more tones/color in the BG

TFS

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Brian ... a really nice frame overall , I bet even more for BIF junkies in here .
Lovely overall tone and color combo , you even have some very tiny variations in the BG ... cool .
High IQ as expected .... with a good range of fine details showing up .

Oh back to DN ??? I was hoping .... but I failed , LOL .

Just for my interest , what made the " breast/belly " that bright ?? Natural reflection of light or did you lighten that area ?? As I would expect some shadow in there ....

TFS Andreas

[Brian Sump]

nice dorsal view of the least tern, one of my favorite terns. nice exposure and the wing position, in a perfect world you would have more tones/color in the BG

TFS

Much appreciated Arash.

The road was about 20' above the shoreline so very little opp for shots below the water line, but I agree, rich colors are mo betta!

Hi Brian ... a really nice frame overall , I bet even more for BIF junkies in here .
Lovely overall tone and color combo , you even have some very tiny variations in the BG ... cool .
High IQ as expected .... with a good range of fine details showing up .

Oh back to DN ??? I was hoping .... but I failed , LOL .

Just for my interest , what made the " breast/belly " that bright ?? Natural reflection of light or did you lighten that area ?? As I would expect some shadow in there ....

TFS Andreas

Andreas... lol.... I can't PROMISE not to use it. Actually, this image was processed back in June, before I made some adjustments but as you know, I use it sparingly. It was very hot and the images were a touch grainy so it came in handy here.

The belly is lightened by the beautiful, white sand beach below. Very minimal lifting on my end :-)

PS - thanks for noticing the thin, white clouds creating subtle striations behind. You have a keen eye!

[Arthur Morris]

For me, this is a perfect image. And I love the blue background. The subject looks as if it is glowing. Keep them coming, Sump Scores.

with love, artie

[Jay Ing]

Another very nice frame, Brian. You just keep cranking' them out. This looks like an painting from an old birding ID book my mom had. :)

[John Mack]

Soild all around. Really tough to get these birds in flight.