Yellow-eyed penguins

[greg cowle]

Yellow-eyed penguins on Enderby Island (NZ sub-antarctic), last December. They are on a cliff top, the background is the cliff face of the next headland.
Canon 1DXII and 400/2.8II, handheld.
f5, 1/1600, ISO250, handheld.
Greg

[Jonathan Ashton]

Beautiful image, I presume there was good reason for the lower half of their bodies not to be in the frame, I think it is unfortunate but I really like the colours pose and detail.

[Alex Becker]

Really beautiful frame. It's funny that you posted this as I'm heading to NZ in a couple months and should have a couple days to get some bird photography in and was just looking yesterday at how feasible it would be to get a shot of these guys (although not sure I'll make the trek that far south). Details color and pose on the birds are nice and I like the dark BG. I feel that going a bit tighter if IQ will allow would help as I find the flippers are cut off too close to the tips. TFS

[Bill Dix]

Love the pose; great textures, and the birds stand out nicely against the dark cliff face. I can see Alex's point about the flippers being cut closely - maybe showing all or a bit less would be good. I'm not sure the oof rocks in the LRC add anything to the image. We were lucky to see these guys on the Otago Peninsula some years back, but not lucky enough to get a shot like this. I would have been thrilled with this one. Alex, that's a very birdy spot that you might consider, since it's fairly accessible. Also has Little Penguins, and Royal Albatrosses.

[gail bisson]

Hi Greg, this frame has so much potential. The IQ and HA's are excellent and that dark BG is wonderful. If this is not a big crop I would suggest cropping significantly to midway on the wings, thus eliminating those pesky OOF rocks.I would center the penguins so you would need to take a bit off the RHS .This would really draw the viewers eye into the frame and focus on those wonderful eyes.
A potentially wonderful image. Please do a repost!
Gail

[greg cowle]

Thanks to all for the great comments, good place to learn! I remember being so focused on the beak-to-beak interaction and making sure the eyes were sharp, and I wasn't looking so much at he other aspects you all point out. This is almost full frame, unfortunately nothing more below, but I can certainly crop to a better place, and also deal with the rocks. Once I found these guys in with this background I had no place to back up further, and once this interaction happened no chance to change gear. And just after this the interaction was gone. I do have other shots, not as nice head angles and some with blinking, etc, but given the feedback I'll go and review again to see if I have better overall considering the flippers. But I'll rework this one also to repost.
Alex, I know they see these guys also on the Southern Island and Stewart Island, but on my trip I only went further south. Well worth it if you can get there.
Thanks again to all.
Greg

[Glenn Pure]

Wonderful work Greg. Killer background and I like the way the left penguin almost merges into it. Your handling of tone and colour look pretty good although I'd just watch for that highlight on the left bird's breast. It looks a little 'hot' to me. Composition is tricky on this. The cut-off flippers are unfortunate so it may be worth trying for a tighter crop if this image will hold up. Still a wonderful frame and worth another go, I think.

[Tim Foltz]

Greg, I'm torn on this one, love the penguins but the comp. doesn't work for me, If you have the full bodies yes if not I would go tighter.

-Tim

[greg cowle]

Thanks all, here is a repost in which the cut is not near the end of the flippers. I also toned down the white a little per Glenn's suggestion. Another option I was considering was cropping above the flippers, and just concentrating on the heads. I'll look through the other files and see if I can get one with full flippers.
Greg

[greg cowle]

I found another shot from a second later. This one has the bottom of the flippers. I actually prefer in this one that the beaks are not overlapping, but the head turning away on the RHS bird is less good. I had not downloaded this, but did have the previous shot, in which the nictating membrane was closed... good to shoot in bursts.
Greg

[Glenn Pure]

Greg, I think the first repost works best. As you've noted, the head angle on the RHS bird in the second repost is not the best.