Northern Gannet diving

[Isaac Grant]

Last April we had a huge flock of Northern Gannets in Staten Island, New York. Far more than I had ever seen in the city as there were thousands of birds diving just off shore. They were going from the ocean and flying over the road to the harbor. I have been birding in New York my whole life and have never seen a single Gannet flying over a road. I have hardly ever seen them even flying over the sand at the beach. The problem was that they were never at good sun angles. Very frustrating when so many were so close. There is a private yacht club there and I begged a guard to let me in to go out to the docks for a few minutes so the sun could be at my back. Finally at the end of the day he let me go in (once his boss left) and I was able to get a few shots off before the sun set. Can't help but think that I missed some great opportunities that day.

Canon 7d mark ii and Canon 100-400 ii. 400mm. ISO 400,F5.6, SS 1/3200

Converted in DPP 4.5. exposure to -.17 and highlights -3. In PS I applied NR to background and sharpened. Cropped about 35% or so.

[Bill Dix]

Good thing he made you wait until the boss left -- gave you some lovely light. No mean feat to catch these speedsters in a dive. Did you consider desaturating the blue channel of the sky?

[Marina Scarr]

Exposure looks spot on. Love the pose. I took it into PS and cropped off top and some on bottom and put bird's belly in upper 1/3 and it works better IMHO.

[Isaac Grant]

Could you post your version Marina. I'd love to see how you cropped it. Thanks. Honestly did struggle a bit with how to crop it so am eager to see your version.

I think the sky is blue but that is how it was that evening so I decided to leave it.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Isaac, well exposed, and I like the colours of the Gannet due to the late light. Great flight pose too. I like the hint of the clouds in the lower sky BG.

[Mike Poole]

Beautiful colours on the bird Isaac, I'd like to see it cropped a bit tighter if the IQ will take it. Excellent diving pose against the sky.

Mike

[Marina Scarr]

My take