Black Skimmer

Excellent shot, love the little wave its beak is kicking up. Great work.

Ray

Magnificent picture Angela! Aside from the interesting behavioral aspect, the exposure is spot-on allowing you to capture splendid detail in the underparts of it's wing and giving good separation between the eye and the black feathers of it's head. I also love the low angle of perspective, very well done :^)

Excellent - one of the shots I've never managed to get..
Perfect exposure, great pose/action, nice detail - and even a catchlight!

Sandy

Splendid action image Angela. The bird appears to be looking right at you. Captured very professionaly.

Nice on the techs but Id like to see a little more in the way of space. Meaning the crop is a little to tight for my taste. Maybe a little more room out front of the bird so you get a feel that he has some place to fly to.

Good work getting a catch light in the skimmer. I like the wave and trail generated by the beak. How about selectively reducing the brightness/exposure of the water a tad?

Nice skimming action; neat wake from the lower mandible and good catchlight. Have you tried warming this up slightly?

Excellent image of this hard to shoot bird. I particularly like the feather detail preserved in the whites.

Great action caught as well as under wing detail and catchlight. Has a slight blue cast on my moniter?

Nice capture. I like the transparent trailing edges of the wings and the wave in the water. I think I'd back off the crop a bit and go with more of a landscape format to allow for the bird to "skim" across the frame. Might also warm it up a touch but this version as presented may be more accurate to what you saw.

Angela, The skimmers are the birds that started up my passion for bird photography. Just two days ago I shot my first frames of one of them skimming. To far off for a good image but it dates the start of the behavior in the Reserve where I shoot them. I hope to capture an image like yours this year. Your image has everything I want: catch light, skimming wave behind the bill and good exposure on the blacks and whites. Love it.

Harry

Wonderful action you captured here. Great timing, love the the eye contact, and well exposed. Well done.

Very nice flight shot and details
Ciao Antino

I agree with pretty much every critique. I originally had it in a more pano format, but I wanted it to fit an 8 x 10 mat. The "con trail" was cool and I agree that it feels tight. I won't do that again. Someone else can crop it if they want it that way. Color was as seen. I don't see a blue hue. My monitor is calibrated monthly and was just done a few days ago. I think the blue under the wing is a reflection. The whites of the face are true and I used that as my baseline.

Thank you all.

Incredible capture! Despite the high ISO, there is almost no noise. I really like the low perspective and reflections in the water.

Anna Wrobel
Washington DC