Jim Neiger and Doug Brown's Flightschool at Bolsa Chica was wonderful.
It meant needing to learn a lot of things quickly - manual mode and handholding big lenses were two of the main ones. (Fortunately - my husband was able to help me a lot with both - without the supports for the lens that he added to my backpack - I think my arms would have fallen off by the end of the 2nd day and I was trying to use a pretty small lens compared to most there)
there was also a lot to learn about watching the birds to catch behaviors - Doug and Jim pointed out that after the Terns surfaced from diving in the water, they would fly a few wingstrokes, and then shake their heads violently --- and it was fun to try to catch that. I only got one pretty clear image.
Nikon D300, 300 f/2.8 lens with 1.4 tc at 420mm, 1/2000 sec at f/8.0 manual mode
HI Pat - like it! - Nailed the focus and the exposure looks good - looks like the membrane might be covering the eye - but dont know if this behaviour happens without that.
Love the little water drops scattered about.
Big congrats :)
:) thank you Lance --- sorry, I blew it - missed part of the posting. I had to do some highlight recovery and fill light in LR, and cropped it, but am not sure i like this crop. and I did some NR on the background, and sharpening on the bird in PS. I kind of liked the eye membrane, between it and the weird position - it made me think of one of the zombie dancer's in Michael Jackson's Thriller video....
Great timing Pat! It's really difficult to maintain focus during the head shake, so you did well to capture this image. I've never seen an image of this behavior without the nictating membrane covering the eye. Regarding the crop, I'd probably place the bird a little lower in the frame. The birds are usually rising up out of the water, and I like to place them accordingly (with room to move in the direction they are travelling).
from July Flightschool - Tern head shake
