Mike, this is lovely. Love the interesting activity the bird is engaged in. The Bg blues are very nice and make the bird pop. The whites are exposed perfectly. A keeper for sure,
Gail
Mike, you are having a great time on the beach. I wish I lived close to one.
the Low angle makes all the difference. superb feather details and water texture. bird parallel, excellent light, HA. Good choice of crop...not clipping the weed much. Very well done.
Mike, a beautifully framed bird in a nice low-angle pleasant BG shot, and with food item to boot! The Skimmer ground pod/Wimberley is perfect for this situation. Congrats!
Nice behaviour, and the whites pop right off the monitor! Sharp, well exposed, and great low angle. I may crop a bit off the top, and there is what looks like a large sensor dust spot above the tern's rump...
Daniel, I saw what you are referring to but whatever it is, it is natural and not a dust spot.
I can tell because it changes location on the various RAW files from this section of the beach.
I don't know what caused this effect.
Totally sweet image of this youngster. Soft lighting for the delicate youngster, perfect. Love how the light reflecting up from the water adds a dimension and keeps the bird from looking flat. Behavior adds a touch of whimsy. Even if that spot is natural, I'd remove it, not to sterilize the image from natural elements, but because this does not look natural. I personally like clean edges and if you've got it, I'd add just a bit to the left so the seaweed clump does not touch. (Again, my own preference).
Thanks again to all for their comments and suggestions!
Grace and Dan, agree the spot is a distraction and unnatural looking.
Grace, agree a clean left edge would be better. I've got a bit more room on the left but, unfortunately, it's just more seaweed. There's no way to get a clean left edge without cloning out some seaweed.