Northern Gannet takeoff

[P-A. Fortin]

I'm not good at bird photography (yet, working on that). But there is one thing I am even worst at: birds in flight photography. Pretty much to the "not even worth trying" point. But suddenly, I end up in the middle of nowhere, on a boat, with about 100 gannets flying and feeding around. Ehh, why not give it a try, it can only get better, right?

Well actually it did get worse. I usually am well shielded against sea-sickness, but it seems the combination of a boat, waves, view finder and stomach does not work too well.

Anyway, I took the gear out of the bag and went through what I believe is the usual process for a rookie in BIF photography:

1 - Try to find a bird in the viewer finder
2 - Find one
3 - Panic
4 - Fire at 7 FPS while panning pretty much randomly hoping that something good happens out of luck.
5 - Look at the LCD
6 - Feel the disappointment and return to point #1 until you succeed, give up or get seasick.

I was pretty sure that all the ~500 images I took would only serve to fill both the experience and recycle bins, but then I found this, which happens to be the last image I took on that day. I keep finding nits about it, especially on the composition, like I wish I had more room in front and below the bird, but that's the kind of issue you may face when you pick the 400mm instead of the 100-400mm. But still, it gave me the push I needed to keep on trying (more on that in a future post).


Canon 7D, 400mm f/5.6, ISO 400, 1/1600, f/9, full frame (!).
Bit of saturation boost in LR, Nik Tonal Contrast (3%) and Detail Extractor (3%) on the bird only. USM (25%, 1.3 radius). Light NR on the water. Cloned out a water splash on the LLC caused by the wingflap.

Comments and advise welcomed and appreciated as usual.

143399

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

Well if this pic was born from luck then you've had lots of it! :t3

In general you have a few basic requirements for BIF (in my books): reasonable reach (the 400mm obviously fulfills that requirement), a fast shutterspeed (you've done that), continous auto focus (although some crazy guys go manual!), a quick focussing lens and (still!) a little bit of luck. Once you've nailed that your chances of success are lining up.

You've stated the space issue but other than that you've got a keeper here - good handling of highlights, nice wingspread, sharp focus, a beautiful subject and white against blue to die or. Nice one!

[Binu John]

Excellent action shot! Whites are exposed nicely! Love the pose and feather details. I would leave more room around the bird.

[vishaljadhav]

Great luck I should say
i like a lot about the image only thing is I needed a bit more space around the bird
exposure looks nice

[Ian Wilson]

I hope this image encourages you to try again. BIF can be a lot of fun and very rewarding. Big seabirds are a good place to get started as they are usually very obliging. Sunny days are the best for seabird photography, overcast days are difficult with low light and grey backgrounds. You have a good camera-lens combination for seabirds, especially pelagics. When you have good light as here, set your 7D to ISO 800 to get a faster shutter speed. Good luck, Ian.

[Shawn Zierman]

Nice light quality, and very good color contrast between the bird and water. The pose is pretty cool, particularly the subject's landing gear. Good advice regarding upping the ISO....Exposure work looks good with the whites showing good details. I agree with most everything you stated in your own self critique....I really liked step #4 in your methodology...I'm pretty familiar with that technique :)

[Daniel Cadieux]

P-A, you did very well with this frame...well exposed, sharp, good pose, and the colours are nice especially the deep blue sea. I agree with you and the others about more room needed for the composition. I just saw my first gannets earlier this month, but nothing near as good an opportunity...great birds and fun to watch them diving even from afar.

[Karl Egressy]

The deep blue water sets it off very well. The taking off pose with the V shaped wings is pretty nice.

[Diane Miller]

That's the way to learn! You got a nice reward for the effort.

You might try just a touch of lowered Highlight and increased Shadow in LR., but it may be better this way -- hard to know without trying.

Hope you keep at it!!