Tern diving

It is a Common Tern, a superb image!! Just love the subtle tones in the feathers against the pale bg. The pose speaks for itself.

This is fantastic. Awesome composition and exposure!

What an outstanding capture!

I love it!! I'm not usually a fan of high-key backgrounds, but it works wonderfully in this case. I know it's asking a lot, but I'd like to see the eye, or at least a catchlight. Did you try looking real close at the original and see if there's anything there to enhance in editing? All that aside, this is an outstanding image.

I agee, a very nice shot! The BG does work well here.

Super ! I love the unusual pose of the bird and the detail in the feather.
This is one of the rare bird images in flight where the white
background works. Great job, Daniella.

Styx

The pale BG works very nicely with the tern. I think the orientation of the image is dramatic but the pose seems to be that of a gliding tern when the image is rotated 90 degrees clockwise.

Daniella,

This is one of the finest shots I've seen in a while; the lighting works well, and the bird's position is very dramatic. I don't mind the lack of eye feature in this case; after all, the bird's attention is focussed on what's below it, not on you or us.

This is also an example of a shot which I believe wouldn't have looked nearly as good rendered on film; it's the kind of shot which pushes me a few inches closer to switching to digital.

One question: can you tell us more exactly where and when you took this picture? Common Tern is actually a quite scarce bird for San Jose, being hugely outnumbered by locally-nesting Forster's.

Thanks for posting this !

Hi Daniella,
this is a wonderful photo, the light grey BG here is truly complimentary with the bird colors and add to the image. Very clean, simple, beautiful.

thanks everyone :)

Bob, thanks for the tip on the eye..I did manage to get a little something but the eye was very dark. Here I think it looks better:

<a href="http://www.pbase.com/image/28155098" target="_blank">http://www.pbase.com/image/28155098</a>


Betty, if you observe terns for a while you will notice that they do this pose as they start a dive and yes the bird was head down. I did not rotate the shot, this is how it came out and up side is up. Look at the head position and you will see that it would not have this head position if it would be flying in a horizontal manner. I was tracking the bird and then sudendly it stopped and flipped its body and then dived. This is the pose as it flip its body as it start the dive. Also to get this angle of a flying tern, it woudl have to be right above my head and what would it be looking at? the sun? :) I was on the shore and the bird was over the water. If you want to see my other photos of terns:

<a href="http://www.pbase.com/zylen/new_work" target="_blank">http://www.pbase.com/zylen/new_work</a>


Mike, this was taken on a local small parc. I don't think this park has a name, at least I don't know it. It is located along the highway 17 near the jonction of the highway 85. There are many terns now there and more seem to be arriving each day. At the begining there was only one that I could see and that was last week.

<i>I did manage to get a little something but the eye was very dark. Here I think it looks better: </i>

Looks terrific Daniella! I thought to suggest this since I had just recently finished doing the same thing to a Caspian Tern image I took. When you get the exposure correct for the whites like you did, the black eye can really get lost in the black hood. What you did is perfect, you brought out just enough detail to suggest the eye is there.

Great stuff,
Love the pose and the high key feel to it.Great splash of colour provided by the legs and beak.

Daniella,
WOW! Absolutely beautiful.

I can only echo everyone else. Fantastic image!! This is one of those that goes beyond great nature photography into great nature art. I'd love to see a print.

Rick

Beautiful, dramatic and a compelling study.

Betty Frazier wrote:
<i>The pale BG works very nicely with the tern. I think the orientation of the image is dramatic but the pose seems to be that of a gliding tern when the image is rotated 90 degrees clockwise.</i>

Fantastic shot, Daniella!!! I like the high key background and the positioning of the bird "on the dive".. Betty - I frequent the Texas coast and have seen the terns do this "diving behavior" quite often...it probably is focusing on his next meal

Well done image, Daniella!!!

Michael

May I add my voice to the chorus:
Superb shot.

Holy smokes!!!!!!!!!!!