Northern Fulmar + repost

Gallery: AvianPosted October 9, 200989 views13 comments

D300, 300mm f/4 + 1.7 tc
ISO 320, f/6.7, 1/640 sec, tripod
Photo taken June 22, 2009 in Iceland. Cropped to about 50% of full frame. Exposure, sharpening, and saturation adjustments using LR2 and PS3. The bird is on a nest about 2 meters from the top of a steep seaside cliff. It would have been very difficult to take the shot with a lower perspective. The bird is making calls as other birds fly along the cliff, close to the nest.
Comments and suggestions most welcome.

Comments

13 comments

Comment posted by Keith Bauer on October 9, 2009 at 9:37 AM

David: Very nice shot in a great environment. Love the calling. The angle of the photo seems fine to me. I wish there was more room on the left side. It feels a little cramped to me.

Registered on November 20, 2003, 458 Posts, 4836 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Ditch on October 9, 2009 at 12:25 PM

I like this a lot. Wonderful habitat setting here. Great position for the fulmar, especially with the open beak. Angle of view is fine.

I'd try to bring the yellow flowers down a tiny bit to see if there's more texture available in that part of the image.

I'd be thrilled to have taken this.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 1031 Posts, 12705 Comments

Comment posted by Jim DeWitt on October 9, 2009 at 3:01 PM

Wow, that bird is really pale in comparison to the ones I see on the west coast of Alaska.

Very nice capture in habitat, and great behavior. I'd be delighted to have the shot. But if it were mine, I'd be tempted to bring the whites in the head down just a bit to try and recover a bit more detail, as well as pulling down the yellow as Richard suggests.

Registered on August 28, 2006, 1240 Posts, 8506 Comments

Comment posted by Dan Walters on October 9, 2009 at 3:07 PM

I like the colors and the enviroment surrounding the bird. Really like the open bill as well.

Registered on October 30, 2005, 405 Posts, 3693 Comments

Comment posted by Kurt Bowman on October 9, 2009 at 3:39 PM

Very cool behavioral shot David. I agree with others about bringing down the whites and yellows a little, but overall, very nicely done!

Registered on June 19, 2008, 1005 Posts, 8028 Comments

Comment posted by Wayne Willison on October 9, 2009 at 5:31 PM

Good one, David. I like the pov and I guess this bird had a head for color when it chose the nesting site. The yellows add to the image. As far as hotspots in the head feathers, it could be toned down a bit but really nothing is severely blown there.

Registered on April 10, 2009, 292 Posts, 3967 Comments

Comment posted by David Sparks on October 9, 2009 at 6:39 PM

Thanks for the comments. I'm attaching a version in which I used Tony Kuyper's Luminosity Masks to reduce the exposure and brightness of the brightest areas. I was not able to bring out additional detail in the whites, but there is more detail in the brightest yellows that is more apparent in the larger version. If I were going to print this, I would need to work on it more, because I think I reduced the brightness of yellows in the lower left too much.
Dave

Registered on May 26, 2007, 290 Posts, 4270 Comments

Comment posted by Mia McPherson on October 9, 2009 at 9:11 PM

David,

I like the yellows and whites a bit more in the repost. Love the calling bird, the setting and the great details.

The bird feels a touch centered to me and I would like to see a bit more room on the left so we don't lose any thing on the right.

This is a great bird in habitat shot and I would love to have this image in my files.

Registered on June 25, 2007, 491 Posts, 12566 Comments

Comment posted by Rob Drummond on October 9, 2009 at 10:42 PM

Wonderful setting David and I like the calling aspect. I agree with Keith - I would like a little more space for it to call into.

cheers
Rob

Registered on November 8, 2003, 617 Posts, 8267 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on October 9, 2009 at 11:41 PM

Cool bg and a bird with a real attitude problem from the looks, David. I like the composition and the angle is fine.

Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments

Comment posted by Simon Bennett on October 10, 2009 at 9:55 PM

Lovely setting for a seabird, also like the craned calling pose. Well exposed and sharp.

Registered on February 4, 2007, 350 Posts, 4614 Comments

Comment posted by Cheryl Molennor on October 11, 2009 at 12:11 AM

Really nice environment . The repost works better for me as well. Great image

Registered on June 30, 2009, 300 Posts, 5051 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Balke on October 11, 2009 at 12:36 AM

Actually I like both the repost and the original....with a slight edge to the repost. Very nice capture and fine image, David.

Registered on June 18, 2009, 229 Posts, 2915 Comments