Black Skimmer with Breakfast

[Doug Brown]

Just wrapped up the West Coast Flight workshop with Jim Neiger (and a big assist from BPN member Jim Salywoda). The workshop went very well! Here's a Skimmer image from this morning (processed on my laptop, so I hope it looks OK).

Canon 1D Mark IV, 600mm, f/5.6, 1/2000, ISO 400, manual exposure, hand held

[Roman Kurywczak]

Swweeeeeet! You crushed it! All where it needs to be....even like the Roman crop!

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Doug, looks awesome. Killer shot :-) great light and perfect wing position....and two good head angles :-) exposure seems spot on. neither the red nor the white seems overexposed and still plenty of details in the blacks. Only wish is a little more room all around.

[James Salywoda]

As good as it gets Buddy this image has it all especially with the large snack perfectly placed. I new you nailed it when I saw it on the back of the camera. Another very very impressive job handholding the 600mm
It was nice helping you and Jim Neiger and meeting fellow BPNer Katie Rupp and others that I suspect will be posting images from the SoCal workshop in the near future. :)

[Aidan Briggs]

Wow! Pretty much perfect. I guess I wouldn't mind a little lighter BG, but the wing position, HA, and exposure are all perfect. This workshop sounded really interesting...maybe next year.

Well Done!!

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Beautiful capture Doug with a killer Bg. Excellent exposure and the lighting is awesome. The fish and eye contact put it over the top for me. Well done.

[Danny J Brown]

Doug - An example of the image we all strive for with both the food and the consumer looking perfect. Gorgeous background as well.

DB

[Bob Pelkey]

This is by far the most impressive shot of the Black Skimmer I've seen. I've spent many hours observing the species with it never coming up with a meal. You've got to be extremely satisfied with this shot, Doug. I'm glad to see that you didn't over sharpen it.

[Fabs Forns]

Looking good, great light, head angle and catchlight. I'd add some at bottom if you have it.
Glad you had a great workshop.

[Colin Knight]

Well done, Doug! Nice eye contact from the fish and the bird. :D

[Ofer Levy]

A stunner!! Bird and fish look SUPERB ! Awesome BG too!

[Hendri Venter]

All been said. Can only congrat you Doug. This is awesome....

[arash_hazeghi]

beautiful wing position, details and exposure. fish adds a lot too. detail in both blacks and whites is very good. I have to say I like your MK4 flight shots much better than 7D.

right on money, TFS

[Kiran Poonacha]

Very sweet indeed bhai, lot ot learn from you.. loved the pose, nice light, details and the fish too :)... very nicely done..

[Randy Stout]

Doug:

Very nice as mentioned above. The only minor point for me is that on my work monitor, I think it could stand to go 1/3 stop brighter. That helped with the separation of the wings from the background, while keeping the brightest whites at about 248. Just something to look at when you get home.

Safe travels to you.

Randy

[Chris van Rooyen]

Certainly works for me:D Fantastic that you got the fish's head and eye sharp. I would lift the darks a little bit more?

[Michael Zajac]

Good wing position and sharpness.I like the eye of the fish well done.

[Simon Bennett]

Excellent job with exposure, and I like the added interest of the fish.

[Doug Brown]

Thanks for all the feedback everyone! I'll be reprocessing the image when I get back to my desktop.

[Doug Brown]

even like the Roman crop!

I was thinking of you when I used the crop tool! :D