Dinner for Two

Hi Gary. Nice clear shot! I know how hard it is to capture a Tern in flight.  The shallow depth of field is a must in this shot.  Nice.

Gary:

Nice flight capture of the tern with a fish.  Square crop....  I think I'd like it better with more room on the left.  With content aware cropping in PS, this would be a great candidate.  I'd also look at adding light to the whites of the bird to bring up more of the great detail in the plumage.

Gary, the Tern is so sharp, and the translucence of the upper part of its wings is wonderful.  I love the background.  I'll say upfront that if anyone wishes this particular background wasn't divided, I disagree.    You've got the wings, the body and head of the bird and the fish all in the blue, and it's fantastic.  Perfectly done.

I really like the curves on the birds body here and it is supported by the wing position.  The fish in the mouth is a plus.  Unfortunately, your lighting was not that great.  It appears you had overcast conditions which hinders your ability to grab detail from the head.  This is still a good image and you managed to get a lot of detail elsewhere where it counts.  I guess I just wish to see a little more in the black area of the head. I don't know if a fill flash would have helped here or not. I do like the background.

I love the uplifted wings and the great curves of this tern, Gary. The fish is a huge plus.I do wish for more detail in the shadows, that backlighting makes it tough. In the larger post, I notice some type of artifact along the edges of the tail. Not sure what would cause this.

I'd say this was a pretty good flight shot.  I like the pose you caught it at and the wing detail looks good.  There is separation of the dark eye and the black head.  The fish is a nice bonus.

Great flight pose and the fish is a nice bonus, Gary.  I agree with other's comments that the underside of the near wing and the shadowed body look to be lacking in a bit of detail.  I don't know if that was lack of light, a bit of focus or both.  Amazingly good flight image for a 200 mm lens.