King penguin

[Deborah Harrison]

This king penguin was taken on South Georgia which is an absolutely magical place. On Salisbury Plain, a breeding area for kings, all you do is sit on the beach and the penguins come up to inspect you - it really is amazing. This king was taken with a Canon 20D, handheld, 70-200 f2.8 , 1/1000 @ f6.3.

All comments and critiques welcome, anything to help me improve my photography is appreciated!

[Hugh J McLaughlin]

The pose and exposure are excellent, so kudos. The background, however, is distracting IMHO. If the background was the earth tones instead of the white blobs, it would be a much stronger image. Would love to get to South Georgia!

[Christopher C.M. Cooke]

Deb I love that photo and though you may have others say the background is "busy" I don't care, what I know of South Georgia is it would be nigh on impossible NOT to have a busy background.

I envy you as I adore Penguins and would love to spend a Summer on South Georgia but my Doctor would have to come with me and I can't see that hapening.

What an elegant bird.

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Deborah

The penguin is just stunning !!!! Never been there I have no clue as to the available bg but imagine you can always pick birds on the periphery !! I'm sure you always have some of the larger colony and sure hope to see them !!

Great exposure and lots of shadow detail, having that eye clearly visible is so important !!!

[Ramon M. Casares]

BG is too bussy IMO, but the reast is great, light, detail, exposure, species, VERY nice! Congratulations.

[Phil Ertel]

I like this image. This is one very beautiful bird. I personally do not mind the white in the background as I can see that it is the white of penguins. I did play with the image in PhotoShop and tried toning down the white with a combination of linear burn and burning. I think it helped a little. I was a bit easier to keep the focus on the main subject while maintaining the original composition with the colony included. Something to consider.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

You cannot have it all, and I must agree that it would be nigh impossible to get a clean BG. Congrats, perfect HA and pose. BG mentioned, so I won't harp on about it. :) Thanks for sharing.

[Jay Gould]

Thank you very much for this post! We will be there in January and seeing your image simply adds to the excitement buildup. Also, good to see the lens you are using; I will be carrying the 300 f/2.8, 70-200 f/4 and the 24-105 f/4 with extenders and tubes. Did you carry a longer lens and if you did, was there much use for it? Thanks,

[Ryan Lambert]

I can imagine that in a colony of penguins it must be difficult to get a clean BG, what you have done is present a beautiful sharp image with super detail and colors. the detail in the eye is fantastic and you have exposed the the image perfectly... a big congrats

[Juan Aragonés]

Yes, the BG is very distracting and I can imagine how much difficult should be to get a clean BG. The main subjetc is just outstanding, terrific details in the feathers and I love the eye.

[David Fletcher]

Super tight crop on this Deborah. Light is cracking too. Don't mind the bg too much as although the whites are distracting, it is nevertheless, telling a story of the colony and adds to the image.

[Deborah Harrison]

Thanks for all your comments. Once you get hooked on penguins you'll find yourself trying to get back. Unfortunately most trips are limited as to how long one can stay ashore and also the weather is very unpredictable so I had to make the most of what I had.


Thank you very much for this post! We will be there in January and seeing your image simply adds to the excitement buildup. Also, good to see the lens you are using; I will be carrying the 300 f/2.8, 70-200 f/4 and the 24-105 f/4 with extenders and tubes. Did you carry a longer lens and if you did, was there much use for it? Thanks,

Jay - you're taking the right lenses. The only difference is that I'll be taking a 300 f4 instead of renting the 2.8 to limit weight. Also, when on a zodiac the smaller lenses are easier to use. However, the advantage of the 2.8 is the ability to use it with an extender and get great shots. I confess I might try to 'sneak' my 500 f4 with me, however on land you'll find the birds get very close.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the pose, eye contact and find the BG interesting. What surprises me is how tiny the pupil is. Is this due to sunlight or do they always look like this?