I posted the companion to this shot last week on Avian (http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?70073-Forster-s-Tern)
and received favorable comments except for the fact that only one wing was showing in that shot. Here's the shot taken a split-second earlier, with both wings in a banking pose, problem here being that the rear wing is in shadow. Used Al's tip of blending two versions of the RAW conversion, a stop apart, to bring some detail out of the overexposed breast; brightened the shaded rear wing and removed the blue cast from shaded portions. Curious to know if this works. C&C appreciated.
D90 | 80-400 VR @ 370mm | 800 ISO | 1/3200s @ f/7.1 | -0.7 EV | HH
Bill, that is gorgeous - and there looks to be a lot of detail in the breast - I want to try that method too. And the darker back wing looks fine. Beautiful capture....
Greetings. Still looks kinda blue to me in the shadows, particularly in the back part of the top wing, the leading edge of the bottom wing and the tail. You might try a monochrome layer (channel mixer or black & white) blended back with color mode at a medium opacity to remove most of the color (masked for the whites).
I like the composition and banking pose & detail in the wings...
This woks for me. I like the placement of the bird in frame. Giving it ample room to fly into is effective in this presentation. I like the pose of the bird and that is flying slightly towards us. The diagonal of the wings adds interest and give us a nice view of the underside of the wings. I also like that the head does not intersect with the wings. The green in the background is pleasing
I am pretty sure the white are not over exposed but I still might try and tone down some of the brighter areas on the breast. Perhaps some a little linear burn layer and masked to reveal just those areas. I also would how lightening the far wing would effect the presentation.
Thanks for sharing.
Last edited by Phil Ertel; 08-18-2010 at 05:43 AM.
Great advise above and the composition is super - well framed. You did well to capture the image HH - nice panning job. Notice the large catch-light, this is a result of motion blur. Very difficult if not impossible to stop given the method and setting - well done. Maybe a wider aperture might help with shutter speed and mute the background. Love the habitat and nature feel - nice one.
Hi Bill - doing well!! Nice job on the dual conversion. High SS has frozen the action very nicely - 800 ISO to support.
Agree with the above comments - Lots to like here!!!
Thank you all for the helpful advice. I've incorporated several of the comments: reduced the blue on the bird by around 80%, brightened the far wing, trimmed the size of the catchlight a little (although it still looks large in the repost), and ran another heavy dose of NR on the BG, which served to blur it some more. Hope you like it.
Forster's Tern Prequel
