I was out for a walk on the beach at sunset a while back and came across some Royal Terns just hanging out. I stopped for a few minutes and realized I was in a really bad spot for photographing them since the sun was almost in my face, or just off to the side of it. Standing on the beach with the birds, meant I was facing West into the sunset, (as were the birds) and that usually doesn’t work.
So I kept walking down the beach looking for something. But the Terns were in the back of my head, since I had seen some of them splashing around in the water and I wasn’t seeing anything better ahead of me.
Then it hit me. Once May hits on the West Coast of Florida, the water is pretty warm. And when I’m spending time at the beach, I’m eternally dressed in beach attire clothes that can get wet. So why couldn’t I get in the water and photograph the Terns and get the sun at my back instead? It’s not like there is much wave action here in Clearwater – and this was a mostly calm evening.
So I did just that. I walked back, and got in the water. It’s very shallow along the beaches here, and you can walk out 20-30 feet and still be only knee high in water. Not really wanting to dunk myself, I just held the camera down toward the water (but above it of course and there were no waves), flipped out the LCD screen so I could frame the shot, turned on Image Stabilization and snapped a few frames of one of the terns taking a bath. I think it almost looked at me as if it was about to say “Hey… some privacy over here please! I’m taking a bath!!” 🙂
Settings
I used the Sony Alpha 1 with the 200-600mm lens all the way out at 600mm. The photo was taken on Manual Exposure mode, at f/6.3 (lowest f-stop for that lens), 1/5000th of a second shutter, and ISO 1250.
I was in Continuous focus mode and I had the AF Area set to wide. I wasn’t close enough for eye auto focus to pick up, but as usual the Sony a1 performs impeccably and the focus locked on to the head which is plenty good enough.
I use Lightroom Classic to edit the photo (minimal toning and color changes needed) as well as cropping. And I used Topaz DeNoise AI for some noise reduction, which also happens to sharpen the photo nicely. All of this is covered in my Wildlife Editing Secrets course or my Topaz Deep Dive Course.
As always you can find links to all of my gear, computers, hard drives, etc… over on the Gear page which can be clicked on in the top menu (or just click here). And it’s always appreciated if you use the links on that page (even if you’re not purchasing that specific item) when buying anything. It doesn’t cost you a penny and it’ll help me out a bit 🙂
Another One
The main photo I shared is more of a portrait crop. And I like it better. But I thought I’d share one of the wider photos with you too, just as something different. This is from the same burst as the previous photo, just a different wing position. I like the first one (above) because the position of the wings lets you crop in tighter, yet still keep the whole tern + wings in frame. If I want to keep the wings in the shot, this one requires you to crop out a bit.
What do you think? Wide shot or tall shot?
One more for Good Luck
I was going to stop with the photo above, but if you really want to have some fun and get a close look at their behavior, I thought this was a quirky but fun photo to share as well. Again, same burst of photos, just different position. Thanks for stopping by!
I have followed a photographer for over 10 years who is more into artistic composition. He flips many of his pictures left to right. I don’t like the composition of the second picture because the extended wing takes my eye right out of the picture. However, if you flip the picture (I just held up a mirror to the screen) my eye comes into the picture from the left, across the extended wing to the eye whereupon it gets sent back to the left by the shorter wing which acts as a barrier to my eye leaving the picture. Since learning this about a year ago, I have been looking at my own pictures and have decided that many would be much stronger if I flipped them, which is so easy to do. WARNING: I get really irritated with fashion photographers and wedding rings on the right hand and many landscape photos would look weird flipped. Hence, the choice of #1 or #2 would be controlled by where I wished to place the photo (portrait or landscape) as I now like them equally.
Hey Matt,
I love the new format of “Birds” and hope that it continues, as every experience in the wild, although always taking pictures of birds, is somehow in some way different and needs a different approach.
BTW, I like the second photo the best of the three.
Like the second one actually. The first one is almost a common picture of wing position up. The second is more unique. Perfect exposure, and speed to freeze the action on all 3. Well Done!!
I like the 1st one, But, I like the water droplets on # 2 and # 3. I like the action of the bird when they are on the water with droplets from landing or taking off. Thanks for sharing.
First is my fav, great write-up!
The first one is my favorite. I like the close-up view.
Great photos. Your detailed description of the walk and the shooting conditions brings back good memories of beaches in SW Florida where we spent many great times when our kids were young. But, back to the photos. I like the first one best. It has the most “connection” to me because you can crop in closer to the face and still get the whole bird in action.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
Love these photos, wish I had taken them….