Cormorant with fish

[Paul Burdett]

Back from a recent shoot at Shornecliffe pier...my go to Gannet spot, but htis time the Cormorants were the target. I managed quite a few shots of this one with a fish, taken from the pier looking down. Here's just one for now. Basic adjustments in ACR and PS, small crop. Cheers.


Nikon D500/500PF, 1/1600th sec@f5.6, iso800, manual mode HH.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Paul, perfect HA showing off his catch. The overall exposure on the whites look good, and maybe you could raise the blacks a tad more. Shooting down towards water is never ideal, but we have to take what we have to work with.

[Paul Burdett]

Thanks Stu. Yes, not the ideal position to shoot from, but plenty of Cormorant fish handling action there.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Paul, I think the Blue is perhaps a personal taste, but I feel you are missing a trick in the dark, body plumage, there is truck loads of detail there that is missing.

TFS
Steve

[Paul Burdett]

Thanks Steve (and for the email). Yes, I'll take another look at the darks, although they looked good on my monitor (:w3), but I see there is more to get out. Cheers Steve.

[Brian Sump]

Paul, this one has a calming effect for me. Love the chromatic element on the water's surface and the fish in mouth is so good! What kind of sushi was it?

Beautiful details in the white. As mentioned, the steep angle is the main hang up for me although I think it is worth taking a swing and bringing out some details in the darks as Steve mentioned. Did you have any more room below?

Just a wild guess that it might take a bit more warming but I did not assess it myself.

[Paul Burdett]

Hi Brian. Thanks for the valued feedback as always. I'm not sure of the fish...maybe I should have asked the many fishermen/fisherwomen (not sure to be politically correct...lol)..maybe fisherpeople? Anyhow, I went back and extracted more detail from the darks...looks better. I do have more below, but cropped like this as there were more reflection elements below the bird, like those to the left of the the bird's neck which I thought were distractions...maybe they're not...I'll go back and have another look. Great to get different perspectives from others. Cheers.

[John Mack]

Neat looking cormorant. I do like the fish.