Booby+Repost

Gallery: AvianPosted December 28, 2010100 views10 comments

Brown Booby (Sula leucogaster)

This female Brown Booby was siting on a rock above the ocean on Cayman Brac. Her head was turning back and forth like a radar antenna but she allowed me to approach quite close. I don't know what she was looking for!! At this point she changed her position a bit and gave me a less conventional view showing a bent neck and one foot. The feet are known to be "totipalmate" --- which means that they have webbing connecting all four toes. (see
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Brown_Booby/lifehistory ).

For more comments on my tour of Cayman Brac please see my previous "Brown Booby" post at:
http://www.naturephotographers.net/imagecritique/ic.cgi?a=vp&pr=162996&CGISESSID=b4cc5e4de62924147d82d191af7f19aa&u=13957

This image is 13.9 MP after cropping (only a small crop was needed here ). The shadow does obscure some detail. However, all of my attempts to lighten it spoiled the look of the image. So, I implemented only very minor exposure changes.

1D Mark IV, 400 mm f/5.6, 1.4x TC, hand held: ISO 500, 1/1000 s, f/13, 0 EV, 13.9 MP after cropping, usual NR, exposure adjustment, sharpening.

Comments

10 comments

Comment posted by Brian Gatlin on December 28, 2010 at 10:58 PM

a neat close-up and pose from a cool bird, Steve. I'd consider cropping off the bright portion at the top.

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

Comment posted by Jim DeWitt on December 29, 2010 at 2:40 AM

I like Brian's suggestion. If you are bothered by the dark neck, have you tried selective brightening?

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

Comment posted by Ron Bielefeld on December 29, 2010 at 7:31 AM

Love the larger version Steve. Great detail in the head, eye, and beak area. Cropping off the top would make it too tight up there for my tastes. I like this as posted.

Registered on December 6, 2008, 360 Posts, 7132 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Balke on December 29, 2010 at 8:19 AM

Thank you everyone: interesting spectrum of crop suggestions!! I'll wait for a little while and post the most popular. At this point I just want to answer Jim's question about selective brightening.
Jim, I have quite an arsenal of software for selective brightening. The usual one I try in a situation like this is Viveza 2. However, although it can do it quite effectively, my attempts didn't look to me as attractive as the original. I think the shadow here fits the overall look of the image.

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

Comment posted by Ron Dudley on December 29, 2010 at 9:17 AM

The lighting works for me Steve - I think it's interesting. Unique foot position and I like seeing the fine serrations on the bill. For me, removing about half of the light horizontal band up top would make it less obtrusive and I think the comp would still work well.

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

Comment posted by Terry Sohl on December 29, 2010 at 11:27 AM

Neat! Wonderful look at that eye and bill. I like it as is, with the 2-tone background.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 513 Posts, 6889 Comments

Comment posted by Carol Hyman on December 29, 2010 at 1:15 PM

Steve, I'll ditto Brian's comment. Either crop of work your magic in PS.

Cheers,

Carol

Registered on January 18, 2007, 597 Posts, 8062 Comments

Comment posted by Howard Cheek on December 30, 2010 at 6:56 AM

The light/shadow here give this portrait a 3D look, I'd leave the darker areas of the neck alone. Interesting/unusual comp with her foot coming into the frame, it works for me.

Happy New Year Steve

Registered on July 24, 2008, 1201 Posts, 10758 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Balke on December 30, 2010 at 1:48 PM

Thank you, everyone. I think two aspects of the comp attracted comment: the "two-tone" background and "room at the top". My impression is that it was the former characteristic that was the main motivation for the cropping suggestions. It all gave me a reason to use "content aware scaling" in CS5 too. I found that by telling the software what area I wanted it to sample for content it was easy to replace the white area by blue sky. I snipped a little off the top and rhs too. Here's the repost! I kinda like both!!

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

Comment posted by Brian Gatlin on December 30, 2010 at 9:16 PM

repost looks great to me, Steve.

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