Northern Gannet

[SeanKP]

400mm DO with the 40D handheld.
ISO 400, Aperture Priority, F8 @ 1/1000. 0 EC
Very nearly full frame.

I'm disappointed at the lack of 'pop' from this shot. It looked great on the camera.This was taken from a tourist boat at Les Sept Iles, Brittany, France on 29th May this year. The weather was grey and showery. Unfortunately, the only way I know of getting to the islands at the moment is on a large tourist boat which spends no more than half an hour near to the birds. The boat schedule is dependant on the tide but is never early or late enough to get great light. Despite that I'm hoping to get back there again this coming weekend, probably with a shorter focal length and hopefully better light. Any suggestions for improvements will be gratefully appreciated.
Best wishes.
Sean

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Sean Difficult to do much under those conditions I'm sure there is a way to get onto the island with a smaller boat ... would check with the locals !!!

The biggest improvement here would be having some density on the upper wing Not sure how the histogram looked? Any pixels blinking? Is you made it in raw would try a double conversion one being in linear the other conventional. I'm sure you will get much more density in that wing since I think you do have pixels to work with !!

To me the birds in flight look best when you see a big part of the wing, this same bird in the full up stroke would have looked great ..... in the full down stroke would have looked great. Moral to the story .... get them on the full up/down and the best way to do it is high frame rate in camera !!! No substitute in this instance since you can not time it. Good luck on the next trip !!!

[Gail Spitler]

Sean
Maybe a polarizing filter would help with controlling all the light bouncing off the water surface?
To me the gannet itself looks great. They are one impressive bird. It the background that is too strong for whatever reason.
Good luck on the next trip.
Gail

[Lance Peters]

Amazing Birds - I am sure you will get a chance to get the shot.

KEEP THEM COMING

[Harold Davis]

good job in those conditions!!! good luck this weekend. hope you get a ton of keepers!!

[SeanKP]

Thanks all. The weather has been beautiful apparently but the forecast for this weekend is much as it has been for each of my last few trips, ie not very good.

Alfred, I'm going to keep looking for someone who can take me out there. I'm pretty sure landing is forbidden on the island with the main gannet colony but it'd be nice to spend some time in a boat near to the rocks at least.You do seem to be able to land on one of the islands but I'm not sure what the bird life is like.

Cheers.
Sean