High key Gannet

[Rene Quenneville]

The birds were so close to me that I felt as if I were in a portrait session. I did several tight head shots. Mid day lighting.

1/1600s
f/9
400 ISO
fill flash
320 mm with Sigma 100-300 f/4 and 1.4 X TC

[Ramon M. Casares]

These could be one of the most beautiful birds on earth, I mean it, and this shot is excellent, the mood is just ... breathtaking...

[Stephen Stephen]

René I like this portrait especially with the head tucked in close to the neck. Very Intimate.

The whites look good so your fill flash was set perfectly since I can't tell that a flash was used. I might be tempted to clone out the fine feather(?) part way up the upper bill but I'd still be very pleased to own this image.

Félicitations!

[Maxis Gamez]

What a lovely looking bird. This image needs more room on the bottom and more sharpening. Fill flash worked very well!

[Leroy Laverman]

Beautiful bird, beautiful capture. I thought maybe an even tighter crop would be interesting. I played around some with saturation and sharpening. Hope you like it. I'd love to see one of these in real life someday.

[Kirk Benson]

Rene, How fortunate for you to be so close to these beautiful birds. Great exposure control, and you've captured it's beautiful color. I like the crop as presented. Very well done.

[Joe Senzatimore]

Beautiful portrait. Like the comp and detail.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Great pose and light, I would only change the crop by adding some room at the right and maybe bottom and crop a tad off the top.

[Greg Basco]

Beautiful, Rene. Love the tight composition, and your mixture of flash and ambient is great.

Cheers,
Greg

[MichaelM]

Quite possibly the nicest bird image I have ever seen. Beautiful image, beautiful subject.

[Arthur Morris]

Very nice as above Rene. Was this a Bonaventure bird atop the shelter?

I am looking forward to meeting you and Joel at the Portland, Maine seminar.

[Rene Quenneville]

Thank you all for the good coments. This fellow was on Bonaventure island at the end of June this year. There were a few of them resting on the roof of the shelter. Quite a sight but also quite smelly. When you are surrounded by 100000 birds nesting, it is a 3D experience: sight, sound and smell!

[Maxis Gamez]

Hi Rene,

Do you have the GPS coordinates to the island?

Thanks!

[Mitchell Krog]

Great portrait shot, well done.

[Gus Cobos]

Nicely done Rene,
The colors and details are great. I like this pose...:cool: