Focus

[Hugh J McLaughlin]

The Black Skimmer chick's total concentration in on the fish in the adult's bill. I am not sure if the chick's posture is submissive or if its wings are used for balance. The posture is exhibited whenever a chick approaches an adult.

To me, the main focus of the image is on the chick, so the fact that the adult's head and body are cropped does not bother me. Perhaps others will disagree?

Nikon D3, 500mm lens, 1.7X TC, 1/1000 @ f7.1, +0.7EV, ISO 640, FF

Thanks for looking and commenting.

Hugh

[Herb Houghton]

Nice exposure and detail in the chick's face. I would have preferred to see the adult completely, but still with a tight crop.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the interaction, my best guess is that the wing display of the chick is part of the 'feed me' behavior. I don't mind that the parent's tail is clipped but would have preferred to see the head unclipped. I would also crop a bit off the bottom. Pointing the lens up a bit might have helped in this situation.

[Grace Scalzo]

Hugh, The posture of the chick, the open mouth and the catchlight are all excellent and draw my attention right in to his (or her) face. I think that what is important to your story here is the chick, the adult's bill and fish. I find that the clipped head, oof body, and all that space on the bottom mess up the impact of the moment. So if this were mine, I'd come in real tight, take much off the bottom, leave the whole chick (obviously!) and just include a small part of the adult. We'd still get what was going on, but it would be simpler and less distracting. What do you think?

[Ramon M. Casares]

I actually agree with you, the OOF parent works good as his/her body angle is not ideal so it is not really that important, what I do mind is the fact that you cut the head, I would try to correct that and also to crop a little from the bottom would help IMO. Nice natiral moment and atitude! Congratulaitons!

[Hugh J McLaughlin]

Thanks for the suggestions and ideas. The shooting situation is such that there are maybe 100 Black Skimmer adults and maybe 50 chicks of various ages. The one in this image is the youngest chick in the nesting area and, as an adult flies in with a fish, he must locate his chick. Once you find an adult with a fish, you try to follow it to get the hand off. At 850mm of lens, and a quick hand off of the fish from adult to chick to keep another from stealing the fish, acquiring focus is tough enough. Composing the image in camera, or trying to reposition yourself is not always practical. If you use less lens, then photographing the chick by itself leaves too small a subject. Always trade offs in photography.

Hugh

[Jay Gould]

Very interesting behavior image. I had to study it a bit before all of the elements came together.

I ASSUME that the top is as shot; otherwise I would include the whole adult head. I don't mind the tail being cropped.

I would definitely crop from the LHS and the OOF bottom. What do you think?

Generally, I prefer the activity/habitat shots to the portrait on a perch images. Thanks for sharing - very interesting.

[Hugh J McLaughlin]

Head was clipped in original RAW file; your crop pulls the viewer into the image more than mine. Thanks for the time spent.

Hugh

[Fabs Forns]

I like Jay's crop minus the sharpening. I may even crop off half the parent.
Focus on the chick is obvious and well done.

[Jay Gould]

I like Jay's crop minus the sharpening. I may even crop off half the parent.
Focus on the chick is obvious and well done.

Fabs, what sharpening? I didn't do any sharpening.

[Fabs Forns]

Fabs, what sharpening? I didn't do any sharpening.

Must the jpg compression, it looks oversharpened in the repost.

[Kiran Poonacha]

Beautiful and a very natural setting here.. loved the focus on the chick and the slightly OOF fish add very well for me.. the repost looks better.. congrats..

[Stu Bowie]

I like the excited look of the chick anticipating his meal. However having a bit more space on top would take this over the top, as the head is in the same view plain as the chick.