The Wing or Not the Wing?

[Arthur Morris]

Royal Tern chick begging on ridge of sand dune


This image was created on 18 July 2021 on a beach near Jacksonville, FL, on the last morning of the second JAX IPT. Standing on the third step of a large step-stool, I used the 81 inch tall Induro GIT505XXL Grand Series 5 Stealth Carbon Fiber Tripod/Levered-Clamp FlexShooter Pro-mounted-Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens, the Sony FE 2.0x Teleconverter, and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless Digital Camera (Body Only). ISO 1600. The exposure was determined by Zebras with ISO on the rear wheel: 1/640 sec. at f/8 (wide open) in Manual mode. RawDigger showed this exposure to be perfect. AWB at 69am on a clear, sunny morning.

Tracking” Expand Spot/AF-C was active at the moment of exposure and performed perfectly.

Would you like this image better with the wing removed, or with the wing flopped and placed in the upper right corner? You can see both versions and learn more about the creation of this image in the blog post here. There is also a photo of a friend and me up on the ladders!

with love, artie

[dankearl]

The wing is not much in the photo, the main problem is it is just not a great pose or image in general for me...too much sky BG and crunchy processing.

[arash_hazeghi]

I think the pose is neat, looks like angry birds. processing looks great from here, nice detail in the white. IMO the OOF wing in the upper left doesn't add much to this image, I'd get rid if it

TFS

[Daniel Cadieux]

I like the wing because there is a lot of sky and the wing helps balance that out. Without the wing the bird would need to be a bit higher in the frame (well, IMO anyhow), or have some kind of colour variation or gradient in the sky to add interest. I like the pose with the look inside the chick's mouth and splayed legs. The little black hair strands on the head are fun!

[Brian Sump]

Artie, super cute. Calling pose with a chick is awesome!

Personally, get rid of the wing and go more 2x3 (or perhaps a pano) and it's a sure winner for me.

TFS and really nice to see you pop in at least each week :-)

[Kurt Bowman]

I love the pose and think it is dynamic! If mine, I would definitely get rid of the wing, I don't think it adds anything and only detracts. Very nicely done!

[Wayne Niz]

Hey Arthur,

Great pose, lose the wing its adding no value and I would also take some of the canvas at the top with it Like the light blue and brown color

TFS

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks, all. I am not sure what image Dankearl was looking at :). Like Dan Cadieux, I love the image with the wing as it is a huge part of the story; whenever an adult flies by, the chicks go nuts begging.

with love, artie