mother and baby Caspian Terns

[EdNguyen]

I found these terns on a small island in the middle of a lake (Radio Road, Redwood City, California). Despite attaching a 2x teleconverter to an 800mm lens (2080mm equivalent), I still had to crop considerably since the birds were so far away.

1D mk3 + 800mm f/5.6 IS lens + 2x TC, 1/400s, f/11, ISO 400, manual focus using Live View, Gitzo 3531 tripod + Wimberley II head

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Great mood and it looks pretty good considering the focal length. I might put the birds higher in the frame, sharpen them more and increase contrast.

[Doug Brown]

Tender moment and a challenging capture considering the extreme focal length! I think Axel hit the nail on the head with his suggestions.

[EdNguyen]

Great mood and it looks pretty good considering the focal length. I might put the birds higher in the frame, sharpen them more and increase contrast.

Thanks for the feedback, Axel. I will try your post-processing suggestions to improve the image.

[EdNguyen]

Tender moment and a challenging capture considering the extreme focal length! I think Axel hit the nail on the head with his suggestions.

Thanks, Doug. It was difficult tracking the moving birds with manual focus. I should have stopped down a little more (at least f/13).

[EdNguyen]

Hi Ed, I took the liberty to process your image a little and particularly the eye. It is a bit dull. By darkening the dark bits, a little more life comes from it (qm the darks of the eye, cmd-J, cmd-U, desat the selection and darken it: use the opacity slider to taste). I also added a few points of contrast and a 160/.3/2 unsharp mask.

Wow! Great repost! Thanks for the tip, Peter. The eye looks much better now. For darkening, did you use the Burn tool in addition to Desaturation?

[Joe Senzatimore]

Great moment captured. The re-post looks 100% better.

[EdNguyen]

Hi Ed, I took the liberty to process your image a little and particularly the eye. It is a bit dull. By darkening the dark bits, a little more life comes from it (qm the darks of the eye, cmd-J, cmd-U, desat the selection and darken it: use the opacity slider to taste). I also added a few points of contrast and a 160/.3/2 unsharp mask.

I forgot to ask: what do cmd-J and cmd-U mean? Thanks again, Peter.

[EdNguyen]

Excuse me. Assuming all California based graphic users are Apple and Photoshop users ....:)
cmd (Apple option) = ctrl for Windows users, shortcuts for copying selection in a new layer (cmd-J or ctrl-J) and selecting the Sat/Hue/Lightness (cmd-U or ctrl-U) when using photoshop.

Oh I see. Thanks for the clarification. I use Photoshop CS4 for 64-bit Windows Vista :)

[Arthur Morris]

Wonderful pose of chick and adult. The ORIG post is )somewhat expectedly) lacking in image quality. Peter's repost is a improvement. Peter, where did you learn that Eye Doctor stuff???

[Stu Bowie]

Ed, great job on the focal length. A tender moment well captured.

[EdNguyen]

Wonderful pose of chick and adult. The ORIG post is )somewhat expectedly) lacking in image quality. Peter's repost is a improvement. Peter, where did you learn that Eye Doctor stuff???

Thanks, Arthur. I was very fortunate to have captured this precious moment.

[EdNguyen]

Ed, great job on the focal length. A tender moment well captured.

Thanks for the kind words, Stuart. I'm glad you liked the photo.