180 Degree Turn

[Stephen Stephen]

I captured this image in August while we were in Nova Scotia. We were with a group on a boat and several people were jigging for mackeral. We were being watched carefully by a small flock of Great Black-Backed gulls.

The captain started to gut the fish and out of nowhere about 4 gannets appeared and muscled their way in for a free meal so I started shooting from the stern. This bird is just coming out of a shallow dive. You can see his wake as he's turning around. A lower angle would have been nice but the boat rails wouldn't allow me to go any lower.

Shortly after this another gannet dove on the port side and grabbed a fresh mackeral right off of a jig. Unfortunately I just missed seeing that action.

Rebel XT with Sigma 50-500mm @ 350 handheld plus fill flash. ISO 400 , F 7.1, 1/800. Original re-loaded and re-crop posted below.


http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s219/Squidcan/Birds/GANNET8-1.jpg

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Great timing and pose. I might crop it a bit tighter to emphasize the action.

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Excellent timing Stephen to catch this beautful image and I love the action you captured here. I would be thrilled to see these beauties !! I agree with Axel about cropping !!!

[Alfred Forns]

Excellent Stephen !!!! I like the captured behavior All looks great from my end Next time might want to leave the original and just post the revised in a reply

[Stephen Stephen]

Thank you Axel, Judy and Al. I've taken Al's advice and moved the re-crop (20% of full frame) here for comparison.

http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s219/Squidcan/Birds/GANNET26.jpg

[Gary Dumer]

You still have enough Detail with the Crop Stephen. IMO

Great Capture!!!