Boring Bird on Beach?

[Arthur Morris]

Royal Tern pale chick on beach on front of dune

This image was created on 15 July 2021 on the first morning of the second JAX IPT. While seated on dry sand using the knee-pod technique, I used the hand held Panning Ground Pod-mounted Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens with the Sony FE 1.4x Teleconverter and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless digital camera. ISO 800. Exposure determined via Zebras with ISO on the rear dial: 1/1600 sec. at f/7.1 (stopped down 2/3 stop) in Manual mode. AWB at 7:45am on a mostly sunny morning.

Tracking: Flexible Spot AF with Bird-Eye/Face Detection set performed perfectly as seen in the screen capture of a previous frame below.

From the Boring Bird on Beach? Worked Too Hard ... blog post here:

Hard Work

In recent memory, I cannot recall a morning where I worked as hard as I did on Thursday. I shot the 600 with the 1.4X TC hand held and on the Panning Ground Pod.. My a1 was covered in sand. With the lens resting on my thighs I must have butt-advanced about a half mile. That is tough on the arms. After each move I had to clean my palms as best as I could … As I was slightly downhill from the chicks in front of the dunes, I got lots of core exercise as well.

Not Action!

While I switched from Canon to Nikon and then to SONY in hopes of becoming a better flight and action photographer (and did just that to some degree), there is a very special place in my heart for good, field-guide-type images of gorgeous birds. Here, working right on sun angle, I love the early morning light, the image design, the sharpness, the perfect head angle, and the relatively clean setting. The clean, cute chick. And as alway, “Add green whenever possible.” Keep reading for more on that and on the image design.

I cooled the image down a bit by lowering the Color Temperature (to taste) during the raw conversion in Photoshop (ACR). As detailed in Digital Basics II.

Click on the link above to see the insta-delete I created moments before this one; I saved the day and made the shot by moving two yards to my left ...

As for the image, don't be shy; all comments are welcome and appreciated.

with love, artie

[Paul Burdett]

Beautiful image Artie. Such a cute bird...love the delicate feather detail, almost high key effect. However, I'm not convinced about the green sections though (especially the one to the left of the bird) as I do feel the bird has enough interest to stand on its own, although you obviously will disagree here.

[Arthur Morris]

Beautiful image Artie. Such a cute bird...love the delicate feather detail, almost high key effect. However, I'm not convinced about the green sections though (especially the one to the left of the bird) as I do feel the bird has enough interest to stand on its own, although you obviously will disagree here.

Thanks, Paul. I always follow my own advice: "Add green wherever possible." And I do love it here. Did you see the first frame on the blog?

with love, artie

[arash_hazeghi]

cute little chick, pretty design of this image with soft tones and pleasing colors

TFS

[dankearl]

This is nice, I am torn on the bright green to the left, it could stay or leave for me.
The 2 light upper spots balance it enough...

[Eric Patdu]

I love everything in here Artie. I know you mentioned cooling the photo but if it was mine, I would have warmed it up a little. Of course, that is just my personal preference as you will notice that most of my photos are on the warmer side.

I also like the faint greens on the upper left but then again, I almost always don't remove anything from my photo unless they are non-natural elements.

[Daniel Cadieux]

How cute indeed, and definitely not boring. Good call cooling the image down as it feels just right as posted. I kinda wish the green bit near the butt was not so pronounced, but I like the colour it adds along with the other greens.

[Arthur Morris]

I love everything in here Artie. I know you mentioned cooling the photo but if it was mine, I would have warmed it up a little. Of course, that is just my personal preference as you will notice that most of my photos are on the warmer side.

I also like the faint greens on the upper left but then again, I almost always don't remove anything from my photo unless they are non-natural elements.

Thanks, Eric. I did that for about twenty years. I am not sure if I am growing or regressing :)

with love, artie

[Arthur Morris]

How cute indeed, and definitely not boring. Good call cooling the image down as it feels just right as posted. I kinda wish the green bit near the butt was not so pronounced, but I like the colour it adds along with the other greens.

Thanks, Dan. The green behind the bird is actually a pad of prickly pear cactus that grows wild in the dunes. Go figure.

with love, artie

[Kurt Bowman]

love the low angle and sandy surroundings. The bird is great of course and I am undecided about the green on the left. I think it does well either way.

[Brian Sump]

Artie, fantastic frame. Sweet composition and your little model there.... well, he's just cute as can be.

I love white sand shots and the overall color palette compliments the subject well. Great look back.

The green cactus has been beat up and I would probably for for eviction but it's not a deal breaker.

[John Mack]

I like all the soft birght tones. Nice pose and framing.