Works or not?

[arash_hazeghi]

Another Tern image from last week.

I chose the rather unorthodox crop to show the splash interested to hear if it works or not



1D4 700mm f/5.6 1/3200sec ISO 640

[Randy Stout]

Arash:

Very nice techs, sharp, well exposed, love the curled down tail feathers.

I find the crop effective for me. The splash, prey item, climbing pose with wings wrapping forward around the head/prey, tells the story well, and doesn't scream to me about more room on the left.

Cheers

Randy

[dankearl]

Works for me. I like the splash and drooping tail feathers.
The light looks fantastic. I have to take at trip to the Bay Area!
I think a bit larger view would look nice also.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

I love it. The water drops wing and tail positions, eye contact all really nice. I like your choice of crop but am feeling a need for small a rotation by looking at the water lines in the bg

[Bill Dix]

A beautiful image. Love the wing position vis-a-vis the head, the curved tail feathers and the dangling feet. I'll take the contrarian position; although it works nicely as posted, I could imagine taking an inch off of the right (losing just a bit of splash), and adding the same amount to the left. Personal preference, I guess.

[gail bisson]

For me, this image is all about the curled tail feathers. Very cool.The comp suits the image and agree with Cheryl re: a titch of CW rotation,
Gail

[Ofer Levy]

Looks great Arash! Agree with a slight CW rotation.

[Steve Uffman]

very nice tells the important story...crop rotation I do think is warranted if you have enough image to not lose the ripple on bottom. Very sharp detail as expected from you

[arash_hazeghi]

Thanks guys, I checked the RAW again and the image appears level by looking at the ripples from the splash and vertical reflections. Some of the trees were not straight so their reflection is not vertical maybe this creates an illusion?

[RakeshDhareshwar]

Saw the thumbnail and was sure this one is yours !!!Brilliant techs and the crop shows off the subject awesomely well here !!!

[Colin Knight]

Works for me!! I tried dozens of these types of images on some least terns recently. I probably got 2-3 keepers, pretty sad. I assume they were hunting for you the same way- hovering then diving about 20 feet? I always lost them on the dive. Their speed is amazing. Would you follow them as they dove, or try to guess where they were going to dive and wait for them there?

Great work, love the splash!

[christopher galeski]

nice one ,crop works for me,nice wing position,food water splash and good detail.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Arash, great flight pose with the forward wing position, sharp, and well exposed. The comp and placement works for me.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I like the crop as presented, but I would liked it even better with the room you have below the ripple on the original. That would have meant lots of canvas additon above and left to balance the comp though. A good compromise was reached. Super nice.

[Doug Brown]

The bird looks great, as does the action captured. Personally, I'd have gone with a more conventional crop here; my reason is that the splash isn't all that impressive at this point in the action. If you had more water droplets or lots of water dripping off the bird I think this kind of crop would work better.

[Arno Ellmer]

Great capture,Arash.For me the crop works in this case and the drops and other details make this image.

[arash_hazeghi]

The bird looks great, as does the action captured. Personally, I'd have gone with a more conventional crop here; my reason is that the splash isn't all that impressive at this point in the action. If you had more water droplets or lots of water dripping off the bird I think this kind of crop would work better.

good call, the frame that has a bigger splash has bad wing position unfortunately

[arash_hazeghi]

Works for me!! I tried dozens of these types of images on some least terns recently. I probably got 2-3 keepers, pretty sad. I assume they were hunting for you the same way- hovering then diving about 20 feet? I always lost them on the dive. Their speed is amazing. Would you follow them as they dove, or try to guess where they were going to dive and wait for them there?

Great work, love the splash!

Hey Colin,

It is possible to track them when they dive but it is very difficult. I will post a dive shot later.

Here is how you get a photo like this:

Wait until the tern starts to hover over target area, pre-focus on the water right below the tern. Wait until he dives as soon as you see the splash raise the rig up to your line of sight and catch him when taking off from water. You don't have enough time to search for the bird in the finder so they key is to raise the lens to your line of sight really quickly and center the bird.

BTW, this is the kind of shot a non 1-series camera will have a hard time getting. shutter lag just kills the action.

[arash_hazeghi]

here is a high-speed dive frame



1D4 500mm f/5.6 1/4000sec ISO 400

[Colin Knight]

Thanks for the tip Arash!

[Dumay de Boulle]

I like the comp it works well and adds more to the scene...Nice one!

[Jonathan Ashton]

It works for me, I think the slight head turn helps close off the left hand side of the image, thus keeping one's eye away from the edge.

[Colin Knight]

Hey Colin,

It is possible to track them when they dive but it is very difficult. I will post a dive shot later.

Here is how you get a photo like this:

Wait until the tern starts to hover over target area, pre-focus on the water right below the tern. Wait until he dives as soon as you see the splash raise the rig up to your line of sight and catch him when taking off from water. You don't have enough time to search for the bird in the finder so they key is to raise the lens to your line of sight really quickly and center the bird.

BTW, this is the kind of shot a non 1-series camera will have a hard time getting. shutter lag just kills the action.

They did well with the 5D III at only 4ms longer than the Mark IV. The 1Dx will have a custom function that shortens lag time down to 36ms, depending on the lens..etc. These numbers are such a small percentage of the human reaction time that I wonder if it really matters.

[arash_hazeghi]

They did well with the 5D III at only 4ms longer than the Mark IV. The 1Dx will have a custom function that shortens lag time down to 36ms, depending on the lens..etc. These numbers are such a small percentage of the human reaction time that I wonder if it really matters.

Colin, that is just the release lag, I am talking about the total lag i.e blackout + release lag which is the total delay.

The total delay for 5D3 is similar to 7D and twice as slow as 1D4. It makes a huge difference for capturing action. The 5D3 just can't keep up with this kind of action it is too slow for me...it stays in the backpack unless I find perched birds

[Colin Knight]

Are these times listed in the techs anywhere? I hadn't considered total blackout vs shutter lag only.

[arash_hazeghi]

Are these times listed in the techs anywhere? I hadn't considered total blackout vs shutter lag only.

I am not sure if they blackout time is published in the manual, but it will be published in the white paper when it comes out.

But I can tell you for sure having used both cameras that it's just not responsive enough, it is not made for action. Once you get used to 1D's speed there is no going back

[Colin Knight]

Sounds good. I've never been a 1D IV fan, so will find out next month with the 1Dx.

[Steve Uffman]

I am not sure if they blackout time is published in the manual, but it will be published in the white paper when it comes out.

But I can tell you for sure having used both cameras that it's just not responsive enough, it is not made for action. Once you get used to 1D's speed there is no going back

The need for speed....I have the 7d and the 5dIII and really like the 5d mk III camera and could not see the benefit for the additional frame rate until now.....Recently, I was on the same shoot as some folks with the 1d mark iv.....I have great images but the stellar moment of the sequence, they got and I only got just before and just after.....So I am going to add either the 1dMKiv or the 1dx.....in July I hope.

[Steve Uffman]

Sounds good. I've never been a 1D IV fan, so will find out next month with the 1Dx.

One troublesome issue with the 5dmkiii and I understand the 1dx as well is focus point illumination in the viewfinder in Servo mode. I hope they can correct that but read where that might be difficult....