If you are not ready for this behavior, the action will be over before you even raise your camera...in about 3 seconds. So, it's important to watch for the mating rituals which occur before the copulation begins. You can usually tell the male from the female bc their beaks are longer. The females normally lay their eggs within 48 hours of "consummation." This was photographed at 7:47pm just as the sun was setting.
Canon 50D, Canon 400DO F4 IS
F5.6, 1/800sec, ISO 400, manual
Handheld while sitting in the sand
Three seconds ya say?! :( I like the light and the pose of the birds.
I might be inclined to clone out the small grasses behind the large outstretched wing.
I would try a bit more USM, but other than that, this one is stunning! Grear light, superb poses, expsoure, BG and ambient, I wish for a little more room in fron of them, but I guess there was not much that could be done. Big congratulastions!
Great capture. And it takes time to get those shots. How often do they do it in a day? It's so differrent, kestrels I worked with makes it 20 times a day, the rollers I have just been working with do it 3-4 times per day - and unfortunately they are shy, so you need a hide.:D
On my monitor the bird looks a little soft (eyes and beak) but the streak of sand is sharp. thought it might be motion blur but 1/800 should be good enough to stop that.
Background is a bit of a distraction.
Sorry I haven't touched base, always busy here. Hopefully I'll get a chance with the skimmers this weekend sometime before more crazy work time.
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