Eye Level

The Terns and Gulls on Bowman’s Beach on Sanibel Island FL are clearly used to humans. Shell pickers work the tide-line and so to Terns. Standing, a really close approach is possible…but I wanted to get down to eye-level with the birds for a different perspective. The flip out, articulated LCD on the Sony DCS H50 makes this kind of shot much easier…otherwise I would have been on my belly in the sand. The main difficulty was that I had to have the Programed Auto set to -1.7 EV for the blindingly white highlights in the sun, which made the LCD hard to see. Still, I got several effective shots (imho).

I especially like the contrast between the birds in the foreground here and the beach bathers in the background.

Sony DCS H50 at full tele (465mm equiv.). F8 @ 1/3200 @ ISO 100. Programed Auto with -1.7EV. (Note that 1/3200th second! We are talking bright light here.)

Recovery in Lightroom for the highlights, and I actually had to increase the exposure about a stop (-1.7 left the whole scene somewhat dark). Clarity and Vibrance. Sharpen landscape preset. Cropped slightly for composition.

The image is from the Sanibel and Everglades Gallery.