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Dec. 2016 GOTM

Gallery: Gallery of the MonthPosted December 19, 2016576 views11 comments

King Penguin

When I visited the small colony of King penguins in Chilean Patagonia (the only "mainland" South American colony of this species), it was difficult to get clean shots. The penguins are given a fair amount of space with visitors roped off some distance away, and the landscape is a mix of barren scrub and some patches of long grass. Certainly not your typical King penguin environment, and not ideal for photography. This was one of the few times one of the penguins stood in one of the more photogenic stretches of grass, and as a result is probably my favorite image from the shoot.

Canon 1DX
Canon 600mm + 1.4x
ISO 400
1/1600th
f/5.6

Max

Comments

11 comments

Comment posted by Jerry Austin on December 19, 2016 at 9:56 AM

I love how the orange and yellow of teh penguin just pop. Very interesting background for a penguin. Nice capture.

Registered on January 6, 2012, 651 Posts, 3448 Comments

Comment posted by Jefferson Silva on December 19, 2016 at 10:04 AM

Different environment for a penguin, yet a nice shot.

Registered on December 18, 2012, 162 Posts, 975 Comments

Comment posted by Ed Williams on December 19, 2016 at 12:11 PM

Beautiful colors and details in the penguin Max. Nice DOF and colors in the BG too. Another great shot as always.

Registered on December 28, 2010, 636 Posts, 3499 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on December 19, 2016 at 1:30 PM

Sweet image, Max. I like the grasses in the foreground in this case. You'll have to add a step ladder to your packing list.

devil

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

Comment posted by David Schoen on December 19, 2016 at 7:50 PM

Perhaps Photoshop can add a grass filter to their haze filter. I know it is frustrating when you go to a location and find natural (and sometimes unnatural) obstructions in the way of your subject matter. But this image turned out quite nicely and it is different than your typical Penguin photo. The colors are well done and the whites are just about perfect.

Registered on November 6, 2006, 1213 Posts, 4587 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Archer on December 20, 2016 at 5:28 AM

Certainly unusual looking habitat for a King Penguin, which makes this image very unique in my opinion.

You took excellent advantage of the few photo opportunities you were given.

Sweet One Max!

Registered on October 28, 2004, 222 Posts, 6683 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Watkins on December 21, 2016 at 2:32 AM

Max,
Remarkable certainly very unusual, great positioning in the frame. I actually like the grass!

Registered on December 15, 2010, 1537 Posts, 4877 Comments

Comment posted by Hans Overduin on December 21, 2016 at 12:08 PM

Still... great to see this species in this unlike environment. Personally, I like it much better than the standard KP shots on South Georgia or the Falklands (which I have myself enlightened

) .... So: great one, Max ! Cheers, Hans

Registered on August 31, 2011, 491 Posts, 3807 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Thompson on December 21, 2016 at 4:28 PM

This really worked out well for you Max, I like it a lot, great colors and composition.

Registered on August 7, 2014, 125 Posts, 2319 Comments

Comment posted by Max Waugh on December 21, 2016 at 7:06 PM

Thanks everyone. To be clear, I also like the grass in this photo. It just so happened that there were very few long swaths of grass that could provide this type of adequate texture coverage. The more common smaller clumps didn't do much for me.

Max

Registered on September 26, 2008, 428 Posts, 2329 Comments

Comment posted by Alan Bryant on December 25, 2016 at 7:13 AM

Ha talk about a image that gives the impression of a lost Penguin lol

Great looking image with a nice comp, exposure and details.

Merry Christmas cool

Registered on March 31, 2006, 473 Posts, 1081 Comments