albatrossities

[greg cowle]

Behavioral shot of Southern Royal Albatross (Diomedea epomophora) gaming, when pre-breeding adults select their life partner. Despite the stakes there is no agro. Wing displays, head tosses; bill slapping and preening for the ones making progress. On Campbell Island (NZ).
148mm, 1/500, f8, ISO1250. Close to blowing whites in the blue channel in some areas (due to light content), but the light is very soft, and with the fine feathers the whites look very smooth.

[Chris van Rooyen]

Nice behaviourial image, like the habitat. Good DOF and sharpness. These birds must be pretty impressive close-up!

[John Mack]

Interesting interaction here. The composition is well balanced.

[Dorian Anderson]

Good looking habitat and behavioral frame, Greg. I like the composition given the 3 birds. Getting detail on such huge birds is tough as I discovered firsthand in NZ! The whole frame looks blue/cold to me, but I'm not sure how you want ot handle that given the light you had.

[Isaac Grant]

Awesome birds. I love these hulking sea birds. Greg you can do the following to easily reduce the blues in your photo. Just go to IMAGE > ADJUSTMENTS > HUE/SATURATION and then select the blue channel. Then lower the saturation of the blues until the cast goes away. I would guess you would have to go to about -75 in this case. Then just add a bit of warmth and the feel of the shot will be very different. I would also run some detail extractor at about 25% on the birds to eke out a bit more details. Fairly basic adjustments that should enhance the details on this great interaction you have captured.

[annmpacheco]

Love it Greg, so interesting. I look forward to the repost. DOF covered nicely.

[greg cowle]

Thanks for the comments, attached is a redo, doing all except detail extractor as I don't have the plug-in, should look into that. I didn't mind the original as the mood reminded me of the 2 hour climb in the driving rain getting soaked to the skin despite good gear, and being under really dark clouds, so the color was a reflection of that. Choosing where to shoot was largely dictated by wind direction to keep the end of the lens from getting wet, luckily we did get a few breaks from the heavy rain. Still, as a image to present, the tweaks make it much better for the viewer. Amazing experience. The guy at the back is clearly losing out despite his best efforts, the bill slaps of the other two are the giveaway.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Isaac's blue cast reduction is the fastest and easiest way to do so when there is no other blues present in the image. I think you removed too much of them in the repost though - I'd add about 1/4 to 1/3 back to what was there. All as a matter of taste, but I think you'd have a more natural look IMO. Cool interaction you witnessed!!