This image is quite simple. In fact I have a strong suspection that some of you may wonder why I picked this image as the highlight of the month. Well, it's the subtle nature with the basic wondering of how does that bird manuever so it's going straight down?

To me there's more to nature photography than perfectly exposed images that always follow classic compositional techniques. Remember them? Things like the rule of thirds get drummed into our heads with steady regularity. In fact, I've seen folks on message boards be quite vehement about the importance of following the "rules". So much so that artistic merits of violating the rules totally escape them. Well, when you progress to understanding the artistic nature of your photography and when you understanding the use, importance, and significance of the "rules" that's when you can begin to break them.

I always recommend to any beginner the basics as a starting point. It keeps things simple when beginners are routinely overwhelmed by the newness of photography. However, once you get to using the rules with confidence take a chance the stop using them and see what you can make. It's the path to producing imagery that's unique to you and no one else.

This image was shot at Bolsa Chica Nature Preserve on a very overcast morning. I pushed the ISO to 800, used fill flash, employed by best long lens technique, and hoped for the best when tracking this bird. I was quite surprised to see it so sharp even with the shutter speed limited to 1/500sec by the flash. I considered cropping the image and therefore making the bird more prominate but instead elected to make a panorama to emphasize the bird's straight vertical dive.

I used my Nikon D1h combined with a 500mm f/4 AF-S set to f/4 and a SB-28DX with set to -2.0ev fill. As usual, I used an incident meter to set the camera's exposure. Oh, this was my first trip using a new Gitzo 1321 leveling base. It's very effective when combined with my Gitzo 410 tripod.

Cheers

Tom Hill