Cormorant + REPOST

Gallery: AvianPosted April 8, 201084 views11 comments

Canon 7D, 500mm f/4 + 1.4x TC. Monopod.

1/1000, f/7.1, ISO 640

Crop to 44% (8 of 18MP)

This is another shot from Puerto Penasco (gonna have to get back to Grand Canyon birds one of these days!). I love cormorant eyes, and so I really like the nice close look at the eye and the detail there and in the orange chin. I have a looser comp of this pose which includes a lot more of the oof bird in the background, whose pose mirrors this one, but I like the detail shown in the closer crop.

Comments and critiques are appreciated. Please view larger version if possible.

Comments

11 comments

Comment posted by Jeff Loomis on April 8, 2010 at 9:36 AM

Well, they won't win many beauty contests, but that eye sure is lovely. Who knew? Nice job on getting such a crisp image. I'll be looking at cormorants in a new way from now on.

Registered on January 26, 2010, 68 Posts, 719 Comments

Comment posted by Avi Hirschfield on April 8, 2010 at 12:39 PM

Great CU of this bird .
My only nit is to clone out the OOF bird in the top left corner

Registered on November 1, 2003, 518 Posts, 2114 Comments

Comment posted by Monica Siri on April 8, 2010 at 1:50 PM

What a blue eye! Great image, Brian. I like the double "S" formed by the first and the second OOF bird, the nice background and the detail on the black plumage.

Registered on September 20, 2009, 132 Posts, 3764 Comments

Comment posted by Kurt Bowman on April 8, 2010 at 5:48 PM

nice detail inthis portrait Brian. I also love the eyes as you suggested. I am still undecided o whther or not I like the oof bird.

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

Comment posted by Darren Colello on April 8, 2010 at 5:52 PM

Great portrait, love the detail and that eye. I agree with the oof bird.
Nice work Brian.

Registered on July 27, 2009, 175 Posts, 1100 Comments

Comment posted by Dan Moore on April 8, 2010 at 8:12 PM

Brian,
I did not notice the OOF bird at first because I was drawn right to the Killer eye. I like it as posted.

Dan

Registered on February 11, 2010, 143 Posts, 1248 Comments

Comment posted by Cheryl Molennor on April 8, 2010 at 9:15 PM

Super details and a nice eye as well. I like the close detail also but may have liked to see more of the oof bird to be able to make more sense of what it is as well as see that mirror design.

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

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on April 8, 2010 at 9:18 PM

Beautiful lighting and detail on the cormorant Brian, I think I'd prefer to see more of the oof bird especially as it's pose mirrors the main subjects pose.

Registered on February 1, 2006, 1158 Posts, 19528 Comments

Comment posted by Brian Gatlin on April 8, 2010 at 10:44 PM

here is the same shot with a sliver cropped off the top. this removes the orange chin on the oof bird, which I think reduces the amount of attention it draws, but it also moves the subject's head a little close to the top of the frame.

Registered on March 21, 2009, 202 Posts, 4187 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on April 9, 2010 at 7:30 PM

Excellent, Brian.l The eye is really neat. As to composition, I think I'd take some more off the bottom so the body doesn't quite hit the left side of the frame. This is probably just prejudice, since the normal vertical proportions always seem too tall for my taste.

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

Comment posted by Rob Drummond on April 10, 2010 at 8:23 AM

Nice detail Brian, particularly in the eye

cheers
Rob

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