Black Skimmer

Gallery: AvianPosted July 1, 2012111 views6 comments

Earlier this week when I was working, we had three days of wonderful light all morning. I was finally able to use the D800 for the first time Friday and then Saturday and today. All three days had the typical beach "early morning low clouds". Consequently, all my images the past three days have the low light challenge. An advantage of shooting early is the lack of wind and glassy water that gives us wonderful reflections. I have worked diligently in post-processing on the whites and am still not satisfied. How to manage the whites on the D800 still eludes me.

7-1-12 Bolsa Chica Wildlife Preserve, Huntington Beach, CA
D800 Nikkor 200-400 lens 380 mm f/8 1/500 +.33 Manual ISO 1250 White Balance Auto RAW processed in CS6 and Viveza

Comments welcome

Comments

6 comments

Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on July 1, 2012 at 4:48 PM

The only way I have found to handle whites is in post processing. It is particularly difficult with black and white both to handle. I'm not sure in this instance that +0.33 EV is what will do anything but make it more difficult. My inclination would be to drop back to 0 EV, or even a minus EV and try for detail in the whites, then bring the black along in post processing in ACR. My guess is the D800 would handle it better than the plus EV. Next time try a mix and see what works best for you.

Having said all that, the large image looks pretty good to me! Did you do some additional sharpening on the 720 image?

Registered on July 24, 2006, 2741 Posts, 12349 Comments

Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on July 1, 2012 at 4:48 PM

Excellent image! You got the perfect angle for the skimming and the water wave behind the open beak. Breast whites look great, but the bits on the edges of the wings and face are still a little hot.
You even got a bright eye in a black face - VERY tough to do.
Skimmers are always tough to expose, with both blacks and whites in proximity.
A program like Viveza would solve this quickly, and fine-tune whites/blacks in post-processing.
I'm also impressed with the lack of noise at 1250.
Nice image!
Sandy

Registered on November 24, 2003, 3937 Posts, 12909 Comments

Comment posted by Howard Cheek on July 1, 2012 at 6:45 PM

Tough bird to expose correctly. You almost need perfect light, from just the right direction to pull it off well.
There's no substitute for getting the exposure reasonably close out of the camera, as you know.
Because it will not matter what kind of PP you do at that point..
Great framing and a good POV from the front at 45 degrees. Nice light in the eye too Patrick

Registered on July 24, 2008, 1201 Posts, 10758 Comments

Comment posted by Jim DeWitt on July 2, 2012 at 12:07 AM

Good work on a tough bird. The behavior more than makes up for any problems with the whites and blacks, and the reflection and rooster tail take it over the top. First rate.

Registered on August 28, 2006, 1240 Posts, 8506 Comments

Comment posted by Hans Overduin on July 2, 2012 at 3:13 PM

Very special shot, looks like he's zipping open the water surface ! Nice work & all the best with your new camera - hope all works out soon ! Cheers, Hans

Registered on August 31, 2011, 491 Posts, 3807 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Olsen on July 6, 2012 at 1:22 PM

This is the 1st skimmer photo I've seen where it shows the beak below the water line.
Very nicely done!!

Registered on October 19, 2006, 306 Posts, 1571 Comments