Took this shot this afternoon at Avalon Beach just west of Melbourne. The tern was sitting on a pier and I was on a floating pontoon next to it, the pontoon was bouncing up and down with the waves making me feel sea sick while looking down the lens My hat goes off to all those pelagic photographers, I don't know how you do it
Would love to know your thoughts on the composition and whether it works or not Sun was going in and out of clouds so had to keep fiddling with the exp.compensation Always love spending time with this species, they are very accommodating to the patient photographer
This shot may not be everyones cup of tea in regards to lighting and exposure.
All comments, critique, reposts welcome Cheers, paul
Canon 5D 400mm f5.6 L iso 400 1/800th f13 CW metering -1 handheld
Photoshop- slight sharpen, very slight s/h adjustment
Hi Paul,
I love the way this is composed! Works for me perfectly. Maybe could lighten the eye a tad. Great BG,too!
Will be interested in reading the critiques.
Hi Paul, Beautiful lighting along with good detail. I like the pose but would preferred the head looking more towards the viewer. Nicely muted backround but would wish for a bit more room behind the bird.
It is a moody image, do like the darker tones but would lighten the dark area in the head/body just to see a tad of detail !! As presented might want to darken the corners a little for effect and draw attention to the bird !!
Did well with exposure, had a ton of light form the settings. If the sun was going in an out would try setting the exposure for the cloudy condition !!
i love the mood!! really nice lighting. agree on opening up the face just a tad and darkening the corners. will have even more impact!! great job here!!
Thanks for the comments all, advice duly noted:) Mood was the main thing I was going for, I often like to capture images of my bird subjects with thoughtful expressions, helps to draw the viewers interest (what is the bird thinking?) Always helps in this sort of image if the bird looks unaware of the photographer.
Lance I live 5 mins from the WTP so I am there quite a bit (not as much through winter).
Very lucky in that regards (having the WTP as my local patch:D) I'm sure I'll run in to you there some day.
I recently went down to Portland after being inspired by your shots of the Gannet colony there. Horrible weather so my shots look nothing like what you captured:(
Crested Tern Portrait
