AA1 Cleared for take off!

[Gerald Kelberg]

This Little Auk / Dovekie / Alle alle, call it what you will, seemed hesitant about taking off from his precarious rocky perch but after some serious flapping got enough courage to join the flock whooshing and wheeling just a few feet above our heads.

I went to Svalbard last June thinking that all I had heard about these strange little birds was a bit over-rated, but once we were among them on the rocky slopes, I realised they really are magic! It is no wonder Norse legend is full of elves and strange little creatures. If you want to know how a flock sounds, get about 1,000 small children together and get them all to laugh at once! Truly magic!

Canon 1D MkIV, EF500mm f/4L IS USM +1.4x, Gitzo tripod
1/500 sec @ f/6.3 ISO 1000
Converted in DPP, Photoshop CS5, Neat image for NR and Smart Sharpen.

Comments and critiques very welcome!

Thanks,

Gerald



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[Don Railton]

Hello Gerald.

This is so cute...I love the raised wings and the determined look. The image is very sharp and is well exposed which is not easy being black on white. I do think the white while not blown are a little too hot for my eye and I took the liberty of importing a copy and having a fiddle in PS using Robert Amoruso's technique in the top of the landscape section. I think I have extracted a little more detail, what do you think?

Don

[Gerald Kelberg]

Hi Don,

Thanks for taking the time and effort - much appreciated. You have brought out a little extra detail, but at the cost of making the image a little too dark - the breast becoming almost silver - so I don't think I would go for that. Did you use a Luminosity layer to make the change? I used to brush on a little NIK Tonal Contrast to whites like this, but fell out of love with it fairly quickly as it seemed to introduce a lot of noise - perhaps my technique.

I'm looking at a full screen sized file and the texture is pretty much how I like it, but I'll try going back to the master file and see if I can get more out of it.

Cheers,

Gerald

[Daniel Cadieux]

Thanks for your description of what you saw and heard!

The OP looks good to me, but you could add some blues to the BG without affecting the subject.. Great wingstretch here. I'm only wishing the small OOF BG rock was not there...easily removable if you are so inclined to do such work on your images.

[Bill Dix]

What a great pose and expression. I like the comp (although I'd like it better without the border.) Love your description of the flock sounds. The repost seems to have some merit to me, but goes too far. I could imagine something halfway in between, with a little added detail, and blue to the sky, but not as severe as the repost. And the oof rock could be evicted IMHO. In any event, a very nice capture. Would love to go there some day.

[Don Railton]

Hi Gerald

yes, I believe its called a lumonosity layer... and as Bill pointed out I am the master of taking things just that bit too far... Great image.

DON

[Shawn Zierman]

Sweet image. I like the exposure work and the action pose. Almost looks like the bird's crop is full, or was
this bird also vocalizing? Excellent text to go with the image.