Common Tern

Gallery: AvianPosted December 29, 2013117 views5 comments

This is but one of hundreds of shots of terns that I took last July from a single vantage point on the shores of Lake Geneva. At that time I had relatively reduced mobility due to a severely damaged tendon - incurred while birding in deep snow drifts during January!

When hunting for fish, these birds occasionally came fairly close but photographing
them posed a whole set of problems. They flew fast and their flight path was apt to change abruptly. In this shot I am intrigued by the bird’s aerodynamic aids on its upper wing surface.

D300s 150-500mm at 500mm
ISO 800
1/2000s at f10 ev 0 WB manual
Handheld
Original TIFF file cropped to 2.63M
Photoshop CS3

Your comments, suggestions and criticisms are most welcome.
Thanks for looking

Comments

5 comments

Comment posted by Richard Ditch on December 29, 2013 at 7:30 PM

Nice angle of view and good detail for this massive crop. The losses from the crop show in the larger version. Contrast is a bit on the high side.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 1031 Posts, 12705 Comments

Comment posted by David Rowe on December 30, 2013 at 3:12 AM

Thanks Richard for the encouragement. This is my first shot on the Avian gallery.

Registered on December 20, 2013, 133 Posts, 286 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on December 30, 2013 at 2:02 PM

Nice angle, David, and I liker that look at the wing. The top of the tail looks like it might be a bit blown. I think for shooting any bird with white on it, it's helpful to add at lest 2/3 stop of underexposure-especially in the sun.

Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments

Comment posted by David Rowe on January 1, 2014 at 11:53 AM

Thanks Dennis for the feed-back and yes, the whites are slightly blown. I'm particularly interested in getting to grips with this problem. My most recent effort in that direction involves pushing the in-camera Active D-lighting to the limit. So far, I don't have any worth-while conclusions and I suspect there are adverse trade-offs.

Registered on December 20, 2013, 133 Posts, 286 Comments

Comment posted by Ry Birge on January 31, 2018 at 6:32 PM

Great picture of this tern. You have made this tern uncommon. Great contrast in the feathers which is hard to do with this bird. Like the BG, however it might be a tad over saturated. Keep on clickin! Ry

Registered on September 23, 2017, 118 Posts, 278 Comments