Itty Bitty baby...

[Arthur Morris]

This two day old Northern Gannet chick was photographed with the 70-200mm f/4 L IS lens, the 1.4X II TC, and the EOS-1D MIII handheld at 280mm. Fill flash at -1 stop. ISO 400. Evaluative metering + 1 1/3 stop: 1/250 sec. at f/5.6.

Don't be shy; all comments welcome.

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Incredible capture Artie. It is hard to believe something that small and that frail could survive. A view that very few would ever have the opportunity to see. Love it and many thanks for sharing.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hi Artie,
Originally I was going to comment on cropping a bit off the bottom .........decided that this would clip the leg. Then I went up top with the crop.............you know how much i love to..........and even though it would clip the stem of the feather...............IMO it puts more emphasis on the chick w/o losing the breast of the parent. I decided for a bit of a pano crop with some off the bootom for my tastes :D...but leaving the feather on the L side in. Just a thought!
I really like that you focused on the chick and have great detail there....where it counts.

[Sharna Lee]

Awwwwwwwwwwwweeee!!! This is the sweetest image Artie. Thank you for sharing it with us.
The detail is awesome. I love the composition in this one a lot.

Sharna

[Fabs Forns]

Incredible the way they look, more rodent than bird :eek:

Lucky you to see them!!! We'll probably see them older...

[Nicki Gwynn Jones]

Hi Artie, I might take a tad off the top. I love that you can see the adult's toenail!! Great image.
Regards,
Nicki

[hans stel]

Incredible picture! The chick looks more dead than alive. How can this chick grow up to such a nice bird! Wonderfull that both feet of the mother are visible which underlines the caring and delicacy of her.

[John Chardine]

Great, sharp image of the chick Artie. Hard to believe they turn into gannets!

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Artie,
Originally I was going to comment on cropping a bit off the bottom .........decided that this would clip the leg. Then I went up top with the crop.............you know how much i love to..........and even though it would clip the stem of the feather...............IMO it puts more emphasis on the chick w/o losing the breast of the parent. I decided for a bit of a pano crop with some off the bootom for my tastes :D...but leaving the feather on the L side in. Just a thought! I really like that you focused on the chick and have great detail there....where it counts.

Hey Roman, I have always been a breast man. I am 100% happy with the crop and the resulting compostional balance. Thanks, however, to all who commented. :)

[Raymond Barlow]

Hi Artie

Very interesting (as always) image, I think the parents breast overwhelms the image and appears to be crushing the hatchling, especially with the eyes closed, however, I like it because it is different, and unexpected.

kind regards.

[Ken Watkins]

What I would like to know is how you got that close with out being attacked by an errant beak or two?

[Maxis Gamez]

How did you get so close?

[Arthur Morris]

This bird was nesting just a few feet from the sheltered deck.