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#468: Old Blue Eyes

Gallery: Weekly ChallengePosted January 31, 201197 views8 comments

This is a male Brown Booby (Sula leucogaster) on his nest photographed in Dec. 2010 at Cayman Brac, a sister island of Grand Cayman in the Caribbean.

I posted a different image of this same bird earlier in the Avian Gallery at
http://www.naturephotographers.net/imagecritique/ic.cgi?a=vp&pr=162996&CGISESSID=77b55f9210b6086ee07e0b1c016b19c9&u=9757

Although I have many photographs of this fellow staring at me, all of the others have an unfocussed bill tip. This very small aperture (f/20) was needed to capture that tip in focus!

In the large version, have a look at the detail and those strange eyes!

1D Mark IV, 400 mm f/5.6, 1.4x TC, hand held: ISO 400, 1/800 s, f/20, -1/3 EV, 5.6MP after cropping, usual NR, exposure adjustment, sharpening.

Comments

8 comments

Comment posted by Dan Moore on January 31, 2011 at 11:35 AM

Steve,
I happened to be on when you posted and wanted to be the first to praise this shot, Those eyes go on forever. As you point out great detail! Killer shot IMO.

Dan

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

Comment posted by Barbara Graham on January 31, 2011 at 11:42 AM

Beautifully detailed bill and eyes, Steve.

Registered on July 27, 2010, 1310 Posts, 5035 Comments

Comment posted by Eva McDermott on January 31, 2011 at 12:29 PM

The detail in the larger version is amazing Steve. I like the colors in his bill as well.

Registered on January 4, 2009, 1015 Posts, 13229 Comments

Comment posted by Monica Siri on January 31, 2011 at 12:47 PM

Steve,
this is what I call a "Mr eye contact" (I hope my translation works well here).

Beautiful colors and detail in the beak.

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

Comment posted by Peter Richter on January 31, 2011 at 2:07 PM

Steve, this shot is a winner!

Peter

Registered on November 10, 2010, 218 Posts, 2723 Comments

Comment posted by Lon Sharp on January 31, 2011 at 6:04 PM

Now that is a special face! Some of my earliest memories are of old relatives that looked like that...

Registered on December 9, 2007, 258 Posts, 9892 Comments

Comment posted by Stan Rose on January 31, 2011 at 8:34 PM

That's downright spooky, Steve--i love it!

Registered on September 15, 2005, 836 Posts, 17099 Comments

Comment posted by Nancy de Flon on February 4, 2011 at 1:38 PM

I agree with Stan about "spooky." He (the bird, I mean, not Stan) looks like the avian version of the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.

Registered on June 28, 2010, 61 Posts, 284 Comments