Caspian Terns of Rottnest in Action

chngpe01 · 3rd November 2003

This series attempts to capture the Caspian terns in action, searching and fishing for its prey. The Caspian Tern is the largest tern found in Australia. The main diet is fish and is caught by spectaclular plunging dive into the water, often from as high as 15 meters.

As the reflections of water and the silver/white color of the tern often tricks or confuse the auto-focus, this series was shot using manual focus. Because of the speed of the plunging action I was not able to capture the Caspian tern in this action, however, I have substituted a shot of the Crested Tern in a similar dive to complete this series.

All the pics cropped about 10-20% and are shot with a 500mm and 1.4x TC.

Comments are most welcome

Cheers

Searching for its prey

Spotted and preparing to dive

Banking into dive position

chngpe01 · 3rd November 2003

The dive

The catch

Out of the Water

Close up of the catch

Avatar · 3rd November 2003

Wildlife@Work! Absolutely fabulous stuff chngpe01, the series is amongst the best I had seen here so far. Great try at the Terns, especially with MF! Kudos! (and ... PS. I can't wait for you to present "that shot", something's telling me its gonna be different

)

Viewfinder · 3rd November 2003

Great series of shots. Must be challenging with the MF & tracking.

chngpe01 · 4th November 2003

Thanks Viewfinder and Avatar.

I find that once you are use to manual focus it can be quite fast.

Cheers

3rd November 2003	#1
chngpe01 Moderator Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 7,466	Caspian Terns of Rottnest in Action This series attempts to capture the Caspian terns in action, searching and fishing for its prey. The Caspian Tern is the largest tern found in Australia. The main diet is fish and is caught by spectaclular plunging dive into the water, often from as high as 15 meters. As the reflections of water and the silver/white color of the tern often tricks or confuse the auto-focus, this series was shot using manual focus. Because of the speed of the plunging action I was not able to capture the Caspian tern in this action, however, I have substituted a shot of the Crested Tern in a similar dive to complete this series. All the pics cropped about 10-20% and are shot with a 500mm and 1.4x TC. Comments are most welcome Cheers Searching for its prey Spotted and preparing to dive Banking into dive position __________________ my work I am featured here, in Vol 4 Last edited by chngpe01; 4th November 2003 at 07:49 AM.

3rd November 2003	#2
chngpe01 Moderator Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 7,466	The dive The catch Out of the Water Close up of the catch __________________ my work I am featured here, in Vol 4

4th November 2003	#5
chngpe01 Moderator Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 7,466	Thanks Viewfinder and Avatar. I find that once you are use to manual focus it can be quite fast. Cheers __________________ my work I am featured here, in Vol 4

3rd November 2003	#3
Avatar Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Singapore / Taiwan Posts: 1,244	Wildlife@Work! Absolutely fabulous stuff chngpe01, the series is amongst the best I had seen here so far. Great try at the Terns, especially with MF! Kudos! (and ... PS. I can't wait for you to present "that shot", something's telling me its gonna be different )

3rd November 2003	#4
Viewfinder Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Singapore Posts: 491	Great series of shots. Must be challenging with the MF & tracking.