Black Skimmer screaming in flight

[Arthur Morris]

This image was created on 10 August 2021 at Nickerson Beach. I used the hand held Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS lens (at 280mm) and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless digital camera. ISO 3200. Exposure determined via Zebras with ISO on the rear dial: 1/3200 sec. at f/6.3 (wide open) in Manual mode. AWB at 6:35pm on a cloudy afternoon. Tracking: Center Zone/AF-C Bird/Eye Detection AF was active at the moment exposure and created a sharp-on-the-eye image.

In the original, the primaries of the bird's right (upper) wing were completely cut off. You can see the original in the Black Skimmer Flight Save. What Bugs Me? The SONY a1 AF System Continues to Amaze ... blog post here.

As for the image, all comments are welcome and appreciated.

with love, artie

[Brian Sump]

Artie, excellent job on the recovery. You got skills :-)

Cool down-the-barrel capture. Open mouth adds for sure. Nice to see sharp tail feathers even at f6.3.

Little bit of halos going around the edges. Otherwise, a neat frame to view thank you.

[Dorian Anderson]

An acrobatic capture, for sure! I love the exaggerated wings and the view of the hella thin beak. Calling pose really grabs us and helps mitigate the large amount of empty space this pose requires. Well done.

[John Mack]

The pose is neat. The crop looks odd to me. But, I don't know how else you would crop this one.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Artie .... not sure what was the thinking behind this shot ???
Sadly nothing does look attractive or grabbing my interest .... sorry .
At least it is somehow sharp .
TFS Andreas

[arash_hazeghi]

I like this image. The key is the view of the open bill. Well executed

TFS