The Feather

[Marina Scarr]

Became pretty excited when I thought I had finally captured a banking Black Skimmer with a fish in tow...only to return home and discover the fish was a feather. Despite my initial disappointment, I decided the photo had accurately captured the essence of my morning.

Canon 1D3, Canon 70-200L F4 IS & 1.4 TC
F7.1, 1/3200sec, ISO 500, manual mode
Handheld, slight crop

C & C always welcomed and much appreciated.

Marina Scarr
www.marinascarrphotography.com

[Bill Dix]

Great banking position, fanned tail and HA. Perfectly exposed. Horizon line is a bit distracting to me, but it does put the bird in context.

[Randy Stout]

Marina:

Great dorsal display of those amazing, long wings. Sharp, nice head angle, I like the feather.

I like the swell rolling below, but the strong horizon line does divide the image quite strongly.

Cheers

Randy

PS: Bill and I were typing at the same time, so sorry about repeating the horizon comment, but does suggest it is not just me.

[Doug Brown]

The feather adds a little something to the photo IMO. Excellent topside bank with great eye contact. Solid exposure and good sharpness. I do agree with the others about the horizon line.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Marina, what a terrific capture. the blacks look great. excellent top-side view, fanned tail, HA, catchlight..loved it.

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Fantastic pose, exposure and details. I love the eye contact, the light and the incoming wave a lot.
Superb image.

[Arthur Morris]

If you had not told us that it was a tiny feather it could have passed for a small fish. Techs and banking pose all fabulous. At first I did not care for the breaking wave but the more I looked at it the more that I liked it. The horizon line is somewhat problematic. It would have been something if the horizon line been the same distance from the frame edge as the breaking wave....

[Alan Murphy]

Great banking shot.

[Troy Lim]

Great banking pose and exposure. Like others have said, horizon line is taking away from the strong banking pose.

[Ofer Levy]

Beautiful image! Maybe a bit more at the bottom.

[Craig Brelsford]

Horizon line isn't bothering me at all. In fact, my first reaction upon seeing this fine shot was, what a difference a short lens makes. A 600 mm lens at F/7.1 still gives a blurry BG. I appreciate how your short lens places the skimmer squarely in its environment.

[noelle zaleski]

I love skimmers!

Great job on the exposure here Marina. Love his wing spread as well

[stuart wanuck]

Marina great banking image fish or feather does not matter nice image

[ramesh anantharaman]

I just love the sharpness and pose of this bird. the Horizon may be a little distracting. but i think it has been more than compensated by the pose and lighting. Brilliant.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Marina, excellent exposure here, and you have captured a perfect banking angle. Great show of the wingspread, and the feather does add a nice touch. I like the layered BG too.

[Herb Houghton]

Great job Matrina. I like the topside view wingtip to wingtip and the fanned out tail is sweet too. Feather adds as well for me.

[Arthur Morris]

Great job Matrina. I like the topside view wingtip to wingtip and the fanned out tail is sweet too. Feather adds as well for me.

Hey Herb, Who is Matrina??? Sounds old. And matronly.