My first Royal Tern

[Brendan Dozier]

Was kind of getting bored at the beach the other day, when all of sudden I turned around and there was this very cool looking bird I'd never seen right in front of me. Made sure to check ID in All About Birds before posting it here. Bummer I didn't get the feet and the light was harsh, but still a great looking species, and liked the clean blue BG. ACR, CS5

7D, EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM +2.0x
1/6400
5.6
ISO 500

[Tom Rambaut]

Whites look good.The slight HA towards us helps the image alot. Not overly fussed about the feet. Nice BG. Not sure if some more room to the right would be worth a try.Such a long slender species.

[Ishmeet Sahni]

very well exposed, nice detail in the feathers. A little cramped for me....

[Derek Willcox]

what a nice crisp image the no feet doesnt bother me the only nit is the outer focus foreground to the right

[Bill Dix]

Yes, these are handsome Terns, and you've captured him nicely. The lighting, albeit harsh, helped bring out some good detail. Sharp and well exposed. I could also see a bit of room to the right.

[Doug Brown]

Nice pose and sharpness. The low angle is a plus. I like the idea of a bit more room on the right. And on my monitor the image looks a little dark (whites are on the edge of gray).

[Brendan Dozier]

Thanks for the comments & suggestions, folks, much appreciated. Here's a repost. You were right Doug, the whites were a bit grayish. Adjusted white balance, removed yellow & did little bit of dodging of head. Also added space to rt., and cloned out the OOF patch of sand in LRC.

[gail bisson]

Brendan,
The repost addresses all the issues. No nits from me. Well done,
Gail

[Doug Brown]

Much better Brendan!

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Brendan, congrats on your first of this guy. You have brought out sharp feather detail, and your DOF is spot on. I also like your low angle of capture, and your repost is even better.

[Satish Ranadive]

Marvelous creation with lovely BG.

[RakeshDhareshwar]

The repost ROCKS !!

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Brendon, terrific shot. good exposure control for the bill. excellent head turn and that blue color is just great. low angle, DOF....everything rocks.