Northern Gannets

[Mike Landwehr]

This pair of Gannets was sitting atop one of the observation deck roofs on St. Bonaventure Island last June. It's a wonderful spot for birds in flight. Sadly, the colony has had a very difficult year. For this image, I cleaned up the bill of the bird on the left, saturated the eye ring slightly, applied Color Efex Tonal Contrast at 20%, dodged the bills and eyes at 5% opacity, cropped, applied the white vignette effect with Color Efex, then removed any vignette effect from the bills and eyes, and reduced the effect on the heads, then sharpened. All C & C appreciated.

Canon 7D
70-200 f/2.8 II + 1.4x at 280 mm
1/500 @ f/11
ISO 320
Handheld

[stuart wanuck]

lovely lovely soft nice image!

[John Robinson]

Georgeous !!
JR

[Karl Egressy]

Super nice image.

[William Dickson]

Beautiful

[Arthur Morris]

Johnny, Karl, and William. If you like an image, please let us know why. We have worked hard here to avoid becoming a "great shot" forum. Thanks.

[Arthur Morris]

I like the interaction and image design as well as the sort light and the very sharp pupils. Wish that the head of the bird on our right were a bit more square to the sensor. I think that I would like some more detail in the WHITEs in the lower right and left corners; was the lack of detail there from the vignetting filter?

[Shawn Zierman]

The mood, interaction, the space between the two....The soft lighting! All is so nice to me. I enjoy the crop too.

[Emanuel Tiberi]

That's a really peaceful image! the whites interact with the head and BG amazingly

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Love the soft pale colors and tones. The interaction is great also and I too would like to see a bit more detail in some of those whites. Very nice

[arash_hazeghi]

exposure is spot on, I like the soft light and the interaction. you did well. Everything is great but I am not a fan of digital vignette, it is actually border line between what is appropriate for this forum v.s. OOTB where digital filters are used to create artistic effects. but everything else is great.

[David Salem]

Print it! Very artistic Mike.

Just a note, I am a sales rep for a printing company and can get you or any of the members a great deal on Canvas, Metal and Acrylic prints.
PM me if you are interested. I have helped quite a few photographers including BPN member Grace Scalzo. Turns your work into art. Good work.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Beautiful image, I like the crop shape and the size in the crop, the detail and exposure is excellent. The yes have it I look at one and realise it is looking at the other bird, this really would make a super print - a BIG one!

[keith mitchell]

It's excellent!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Mike Landwehr]

Thanks to all for the comments. Artie, I agree with you about the head of the right-hand bird being a little off plane. I don't notice it on the head, but it is obvious on the eye. The detail was there in the white feathers in the lower left and right corners before the vignette effect, but I was going for a much softer look, and intentionally gave up the detail. Just trying something different. Unfortunately, while it may look good hanging on the wall, the image does fall into a small class of images that are modified by filters in ways we may not expect, or like, for our nature images, yet not modified enough to satisfy the expectations of creative, or OOTB, categories. The same classification issue exists in some photo competitions. If I ever have occasion to submit another nature image with a significant vignette effect, I'll try it over on the OOTB forum.

[gail bisson]

Hi Mike,
I think this image is absolutely stunning.
I love the square comp, the blue in the BG in the center of the frame, the soft feel of the image, the IQ, the processing.
IOW in my opinion! I would print this in a heartbeat,
Gail

[Holger Leyrer]

Stunning image. I love the timing, light and exposure.