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Ruth Carll's picture

Birthday Black Skimmers

So.... It is my birthday and I love my birthday. I got up early and hit the Swimming River Preserve and was lucky enough to get a bunch of shots of Black Skimmers. These are such beautiful birds! I like the high key effect with these striking black, white and orange birds. I put in a 'regular' version for those who have never seen these. The pairs tend to skim in tandem in perfect synchronization - it is like a ballet! This was like a gift from Mother Nature!

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10 Comments

Happy Birthday! :)

I really like how in the first three images you can see that the two birds' wings are in slightly different phases of the same stroke. The birds in images 2 & 3 make me think of the term "volante," which literally means "in flight."

I might crop Image 4 in a tad further from the left, to exclude those two little dark patches.

The more serene cropping and grading in image 1 appeal to me more that the austere feel of 2 & 3, but that may just be personal taste.

Fantastic

These are absolutely lovely, Ruth.

Happy Birthday Ruth! Nice gift from Mother Nature, and very fitting, for you do her a fine tribute with your birds and flowers in particular. Beautiful, striking birds. I don't think they are seen in Australia at all.

I love these high-key images of birds and water of yours, where the texture and colours fade to white. I always picture them printed on textured watercolour paper, and to me they also call to mind Asian scroll paintings, and their renderings of birds.

The second is my favourite.

Fantastic, Ruth. Truly top notch.

We love skimmers too. Such unique and striking birds.

Happy Belated Birthday, and really great edits. I would love to know that technique if it is easy to share.

Hey Shawn, I am posting the answer to this in the Before and After group. :)

Thanks Ruth! I will look for it.

Beautiful pictures!