Fairy Prion

[Ian Wilson]

These gorgeous little birds are the smallest of the prion family. All are blue-grey with a characteristic letter 'm' on the dorsal side. They are circumpolar in distribution and nest in burrows on sub-Antarctic and sub-tropical islands in the Southern Hemisphere. The shot was taken in early morning light on 1 January 2014 in the Snares group of islands, New Zealand sub-Antarctic. Thanks for looking - critical feedback welcome.
Canon 5DIII + 300 mm f/2.8L II + 2x III extender, hand-held.
Av priority, f/8, 1/1600 sec, ISO 800, -1/3 EV.
Post processing in DPP: crop, DLO, USM, RAW-jpeg. PS Elements: adjust shad/h'lights, sharpen bird, background NR, downsize, USM.

[Marina Scarr]

What an amazing looking bird and boy does it pop against that gorgeous dark blue BG. Nice flight pose. This couldn't have been an easy capture!

[Colin Driscoll]

Nice shot of the bird Ian. Interesting picture, with the dark water and bright bird it almost looks like the bird was cut out of a different shot and placed on that background.

[Ian Wilson]

Nice shot of the bird Ian. Interesting picture, with the dark water and bright bird it almost looks like the bird was cut out of a different shot and placed on that background.
You can have a look at the RAW file if you wish. I have not changed the brightness or levels, only shad/h'lights 10%/10% and the other processing as described in the post.

[Colin Driscoll]

Not at all suggesting that you did that Ian, just that is how it looks :S3:

[Ian Wilson]

Not at all suggesting that you did that Ian, just that is how it looks :S3:
Thanks for your clarification. As you know, I am new here and I was distressed by your feedback. I should also note that the image has not had the contrast or saturation adjusted. The only processing is as described in my post.

[Colin Driscoll]

....I was distressed by your feedback.

Oh dear, sorry to do that to you Ian!

[dankearl]

First rate flight photo of an absolutely striking bird.
Obscure to most of us, thanks a lot for posting this.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Good looking little bird. I encountered one off Wollongong last July and even at 500mm it was small in the frame. There is a bit of detail missing from the feathers so my guess is that this is a fairly large crop?

Well done for tracking it though. :)

[arash_hazeghi]

I like the topside view, I also like the waves in the BG. details look crunchy and over sharpened however. There is a sharpening halo around the bird.
BTW, I would not use DLO for a shot like this given the gear you use, it makes it worse.

TFS

[William Dickson]

well done Ian. The colours are lovely :S3:

[Ian Wilson]

Thanks to all for feedback, especially Arash for technical advice. I have reworked this image, probably the way I should have done it in the first place. DPP: crop, USM, RAW to tiff. PS Elements: minor adjustment to shad/h'lights, tiff to output jpeg, output sharpen with USM (75, 0.5, 3). Thanks for looking.
Cheers, Ian

[Satish Ranadive]

Excellent image of beautiful bird. Seeing for the first time. Love the topside view and blue water.

Regards,
Satish.