Black Skimmer, skimming

Gallery: AvianPosted February 7, 2010360 views11 comments

Skimmers always skim at twilight. By the time the light is good, they usually have vanished. I was at one of my favorite beaches yesterday morning for the sunrise, which was unremarkable. The skimmers were skimming so I thought I'd try to get a silhouette and hoped I might be able to get some picture in good light. The longest lens I had with me was the 70-200, but they were skimming pretty close to the beach. The lighter it got the fewer of them there were. This one made a couple of passes between me and the sun, just as the sun was showing itself above the horizon. By the time the light was good, they were all gone.

Canon 1D MkIII, 70-200 lens @ 200mm
ISO 400, f2.8, 1/125s,
Av, Evaluative metering, EC=+2/3

In ACR: Auto Exposure, WB = cloudy, Clarity =100, Vibrance and Saturation +8
In PS: Resize and smart sharpen

I considered a small crop top and right but decided to leave it uncropped.

Edit: The print for purchase has been edited pursuant to the critiques below

Comments

11 comments

Comment posted by Steve Balke on February 7, 2010 at 7:58 PM

Beautiful capture, Buck. Despite that it's a silhouette we can clearly see the skimmer's behavior. The lighting looks great to me. A small nit: the bird is so dead center; perhaps cropping to place it more off center would be a good idea.

Registered on June 18, 2009, 229 Posts, 2915 Comments

Comment posted by Brian Gatlin on February 7, 2010 at 8:48 PM

a nice silhouette, Buck, and great light on the water. I agree with Steve that it would be good to move the bird off-center a little, like you thought about.

Registered on March 21, 2009, 202 Posts, 4187 Comments

Comment posted by Dan Harbour on February 7, 2010 at 9:43 PM

nice silhouette, beautiful water. excellent shot, Buck.

Registered on January 4, 2008, 113 Posts, 2416 Comments

Comment posted by Cheryl Molennor on February 7, 2010 at 10:22 PM

Different and interesting image. I like the twilight on the water

Registered on June 30, 2009, 300 Posts, 5051 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on February 7, 2010 at 11:14 PM

A very attractive silhouette Buck, I think a pano with some off the top would work really well here.

Registered on February 1, 2006, 1158 Posts, 19528 Comments

Comment posted by Mia McPherson on February 8, 2010 at 8:48 AM

Buck

I like this as posted for the skimming action and the lovely water color. I agree that cropping to move the bird off center would make this stronger.

Registered on June 25, 2007, 491 Posts, 12566 Comments

Comment posted by dan elster on February 8, 2010 at 9:27 AM

The distinct shape and behavior of this species makes them perfect for silouttes. I agree a bit of a crop might improve this already fine image.

Registered on September 23, 2005, 299 Posts, 2443 Comments

Comment posted by John Tobias on February 8, 2010 at 9:40 AM

Nice shot, the color on the water really sets the skimmer off. FYI I have on my short visit to the Everglades NP photographed skimmiers skimming in the middle of the day.

Registered on September 12, 2009, 2120 Posts, 6455 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Bielefeld on February 8, 2010 at 4:13 PM

Buck, a very nice looking and unique image. I would go with a pano presentation if this were mine with the bird a bit more right in the frame, but that is just me. Overall a very nice exposure.

Registered on December 6, 2008, 360 Posts, 7132 Comments

Comment posted by Graham Brown on February 10, 2010 at 6:31 AM

I think the silhouette image really shows up the action of this bird. Lovely lighting and colours and I agree if the bird was more to the right it would enhance the effect of the birds movement. Graham

Registered on November 20, 2007, 275 Posts, 1365 Comments

Comment posted by Buck Ward on June 24, 2010 at 5:54 PM

I took your advice

Registered on December 8, 2003, 96 Posts, 1917 Comments