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Thread: Black Skimmer

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    Default Black Skimmer

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    While I have more profile shots of the skimmers slicing the water that are cleaner in the BG, I liked this with the wave environment as well as the head on view that shows how narrow the mandibles are on these birds not seen in the typical profile shot. I wish I had used more DOF in the shot, but that is hindsight.

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    BPN Member Alan Murphy's Avatar
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    The water looks so shallow where he's skimming. A very nice habitat shot.

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    Very different because of the wave. I liked the different view from the usual. Light angle was tough but you've handled it well.

    If mine, I'd try and play with the mid-tones a bit.

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    Publisher Arthur Morris's Avatar
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    Like the waves. For the repost I cropped to a pano and did a bit of clean-up.

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    BPN Member Don Lacy's Avatar
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    Hi Tom, Really nice concept with the breaking wave behind the skimmer. Overall the image lacked contrast so I added a S curve then I wanted to tone down the whites on the head so i used another Curves adjustment with a layer mask to apply it only to the head then with more curve adjustments and layer masks I open up the blacks an brighten the whites on the wing. To finish it off I cropped more to a pano which i think adds even more to the sense of movement thru the frame. Looks like Artie beat me to the crop.
    Don Lacy
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    Thank you all for the comments.

    Artie, the pan crop is a good idea, many of the skimmer images I have taken this week I have cropped in the pano aspect. This was taken on Marco Island, this week.

    Don, the repost, definitely gives it more pop. Big improvement. Thank you for taking the time to do the repost and to explain what you did to improve it.

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    Publisher Arthur Morris's Avatar
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    Thanks Thom. Are those birds on eggs yet?
    BIRDS AS ART Blog: great info and lessons, lots of images with our legendary BAA educational Captions; we will not sell you junk. 30+ years of long lens experience/e-mail with gear questions.

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    Artie, the nests were destroyed by a storm a week or two ago. I went by the nesting area about 5 days ago and didn't see any nests. I certainly could have missed some, but whatever nests there may be are few compared to before the storm. Maybe in the coming days more birds will return.

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    Publisher Arthur Morris's Avatar
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    Thanks for the info Tom. Beach nesting birds are always up against it. I hope that they try again.
    BIRDS AS ART Blog: great info and lessons, lots of images with our legendary BAA educational Captions; we will not sell you junk. 30+ years of long lens experience/e-mail with gear questions.

    BIRDS AS ART Online Store: we will not sell you junk. 35 years of long lens experience. Please e-mail with gear questions.

    Check out the new SONY e-Guide and videos that I did with Patrick Sparkman here. Ten percent discount for BPN members,

    E-mail me at samandmayasgrandpa@att.net.










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