I tried something different here. After getting several images of the skimmer in sweet early dawn front light, I decided to experiment with backlight. Normally I'm wary of photographing a dark subject against a dark background, but I liked the sun coming through the wing feathers. I increased the contrast a lot during the raw conversion to enhance the dramatic interplay of dark and light, and to add to the general atmosphere. I also added some canvas on the right. Comments welcome as always:)
I like the backlight, eye contact and complementing BG. I only wish the far wing were a bit further down and might sharpen the tail a bit less, there are some jaggies.
I like the idea and of course the lighting, the rim light effect on the bird looks great. I think the brown feathers part of the bird facing the camera looks smudged though. I guess it has something to do with the back-lit. I wonder if a little bit of edge-sharpening would improve. I would also brighten the eye just a bit, or perhaps just enhance the contrast of it by a tad.
Really a nice idea and well executed. Seeing that far wing a bit more would have been very nice. Lovely photo at ISO3200. BG works very well also. Dave
Great idea and good execution. I do agree with Axel's observation regarding the wingposition. As it is now it looks like you were dealing with flare around the wing area maybe darkening the image somewhat would remedy that and would emphasize the backlit wing even more. The eyecontact and composition are excellent! Well done!
African Skimmer in backlight
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