Resting Puffin

Gallery: AvianPosted August 27, 2010217 views10 comments

Cook Inlet, Alaska - on an offshore island inhabited only by birds
I chose a looser crop to include the habitat.
Large version provided

Puffins are poor fliers. They have difficulty becoming airborne and flap their wings 300 to 400 beats per minute to maintain flight. They also have trouble landing and often crash onto the sea or tumble onto the grass, bowling over other puffins that get in their way. On land puffins stand upright and walk or hop about with apparent great care over the uneven terrain of the colony. Very funny to watch!

D300s
500mm
1/320 sec, f/8
Mode: Av
Metering: Multi-segment
Exp comp: -1
ISO: 800
AF mode: AF-C
White balance: AUTO
Flash: Off

Comments

10 comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on August 27, 2010 at 11:18 AM

Beautiful, Sandy. I really like the large dof with all the included habitat in this image.

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

Comment posted by Kurt Bowman on August 27, 2010 at 11:34 AM

really nice exposure and color in this shot Sandy. Personally, I am ok with the habitat being included, but in this shot, the beak gets a little lost with the orangish moss covering the tree in the BG. So this shot, I might have wished for more seperation and a larger aperature.

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

Comment posted by Wayne Willison on August 27, 2010 at 11:57 AM

An island inhabited only by birds? I bet you took a whack of pics.
Colorful bird and I really like the rock.

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

Comment posted by Daniel & Loana on August 27, 2010 at 12:11 PM

Wonderful shot, Sandy! I like the pose of the bird a lot!

Congrats

D&L

Registered on October 7, 2008, 166 Posts, 3044 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Teller on August 27, 2010 at 1:49 PM

Very nice Puffin. It is razor sharp and the color is great. Maybe a hair to centered, but that is very minor. Was the island Gull Island? We were there this summer and we did not see any Horned Puffins, only Tuffed. We saw a lot of Horned Puffins in Resurrection Bay near Seward.

Registered on August 23, 2010, 1162 Posts, 6692 Comments

Comment posted by David Williams on August 27, 2010 at 6:49 PM

This is great, Sandy. Very rich photo......love the pose.

Registered on March 8, 2005, 315 Posts, 2291 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Dudley on August 27, 2010 at 8:12 PM

Sandy, I really like the crouched pose. The setting is a nice one and I think it's rather refreshing to get it this sharp. Your framing works well for me. I would like to see a little more detail in the whites of the head though.

Registered on March 30, 2007, 437 Posts, 10915 Comments

Comment posted by Hali Sowle on August 27, 2010 at 8:40 PM

Just great Sandy, I like the bg and the dof it's nice to see the environment it lives in. The pose is great and its an interesting contrast between the textured feathers on the body and the smoothness of the facial whites.

Registered on January 9, 2008, 36 Posts, 582 Comments

Comment posted by Satie Sharma on August 28, 2010 at 11:38 AM

Very nice, Sandy. I like the pose and setting.

Registered on November 11, 2003, 189 Posts, 5335 Comments

Comment posted by Gary Gulash on August 28, 2010 at 4:11 PM

Hi Sandy. I like the slightly overcast lighting for rich colors and detail. The crouched stance is excellent too. I also find the Puffin just slightly centered and might choose a bit more of the rock at the bottom at the expense of the top portion. Very nice image quality for 800 iso, you must have really nailed the exposure.

Registered on January 28, 2005, 879 Posts, 12098 Comments