thunderbird
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 p.1 #1 · FAST ACTION Bird Photography (15x) | |
This is my first post since a little while back. I've been away from the board to concentrate on the re-designing and functioning of our website. More on this later. In between, there's been a few breaks of good weather for me to go out and get some shots.
In the past, I've photographed jet aircraft flying at the speed of sound a few hundred feet away, Peregrine Falcons (world's fastest bird) doing the steep dive at a distance; but the fastest action so far must be the Terns doing their fishing acts, at times only 20 feet away from my position.
Each breeding season, there are up to five different species of Terns that come to nest at Bolsa Chica Wetlands: Royal Tern, Elegant Tern, Caspian Tern, Forster's Tern, and Least Tern. The following photographs captured some of the behaviors these terns display during their fishing outings.
All taken with either Nikon D300 or D200, with 300mm f/4 or 70-200mm f/2.8, hand held, all natural light, JPEG format.
C & C welcomed. If you find these enjoyable, please make a comment. Say what's on your mind, what's your first impression regarding the photos from a photographer's (aren't we all?) point-of-view. If you're thinking "Nice set!" or "Good shots!", I'd rather take a "Hi, how are you?" 
1. Let's go fishing...
2. Yes, they're THAT close! (full frame)
3. This shot reminds me of the "Bo Derek effect" 
4. Interesting pose
5. They must shake off the droplets after landing in water to achieve sufficient flight, sometimes looking rather ... awkward.
6. The shake, head-on view
7. Another, in golden light.
8. Hey, I see a fish!! (The photographer was thrilled to have gotten this shot, it's hard enough to capture a fish flipping out of water, it's even harder to capture a tern going after it!) [grinning ear to ear]
9. The fish grab, from head-on POV (cue up the "slow-mo" video on Discovery Channel)
10. The Musketeers? "One for all, All for ONE"
11. The look in the eye of the second tern is priceless.
12. My favorite shot of the series! You know why. 
13. It was tough to get the fish to look this way to pose for the camera, but I did it!
14. Victory lap.
15. A bonus from the folks at NDshow.com, a tern B&W panorama for good measure.
You can see a Hi-Res (high resolution) version of these images and thousands of others on www.ndshow.com.
Note: These images do NOT benefit from any cloning, adding or removing using software such as Photoshop. What you see is what you get.
Thanks,
Andy Nguyen
Web Designer/Wildlife Photographer
Edited on Jun 01, 2009 at 05:17 PM · View previous versions
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