Atlantic Puffin portrait

[gail bisson]

There have not been any puffin images lately (at least none on this page) so I will post one of my favorites from Iceland.
Canon 1DX
600mm
ISO 1250 SS 1/1250 F 6.3
Shot in landscape orientation and cropped to vertical.
Pretty much straight out of the box- Usual sliders in LR + decreased magenta and NR to BG and levels in CS5 , then off to NIK EFEX PRO for DE(detail extractor)/TC (tonal contrast) at 20% to blacks and 15% to whites and USM to JPEG.
Comments and critiques always appreciated and learned from with thanks,
Gail

[John Mack]

Nice head on view all the little fish are nice as well. Good detail as well.

[Glenn Pure]

I can see why puffins are such popular subjects - a really beautiful bird nicely captured and treated. The bird looks like it's offering the fish to you! I'd have been tempted to provide a bit more room on the left of the frame.

[Bill Dix]

A handsome fellow, and great background. Nice sharp focus on the fish. Who was it - maybe Ann? - that said Puffins, when stacking a mouthful of fish, alternate their head directions? This almost seems to support that theory. How do they do that?

[Isaac Grant]

I like this one. Different than the normal puffin shot. Nice pose and details look great.

[David Salem]

I love the stacked fish in the beak, looks great. I can see why it's one of your favorites . If the IQ holds up, and it looks like it should, I would eliminate the bottom of the bird and focus on a nice head portrait. Especially since the bottom of the bird is clipped. It's all about the fish in the beak and the Beautiful color of the puffins face against that nice background , at least it is to me. Very nice Gail

[gail bisson]

Hi Dave,
Great minds think alike. I had this image printed with a much tighter crop last week. I just thought I would do this crop (I shot it as a vertical so lots of pixels to play with) to see what people thought. I like the sweep of the wing and the bit of green vegetation. With my tight crop I did not have any green.
Gail