Copied to OOTB - I have my eye on you

[John Chardine]

I spent a lot of time on a recent visit to Bonaventure Island, practicing gannets in flight and I felt towards the end of the day that I was getting there. As birds would fly towards me, some would pass close and I would make a desperate attempt to capture an image as they zoomed by. The keeper rate was low but I got a few including this one. I set my flash to 0 compensation because of the normal subject to camera range being rather long, so when they came in close like this one the subject received rather more flash light that is optimal. Oh, well, you take what you can get!

Canon EOS 50D, 70-200 mm f4 IS @ 138 mm
capture date: Friday, 10 July 2009, 11:27 AM
exposure program: Manual
ISO speed: 400
shutter speed: 1/2000
aperture: f8.0
exposure bias: +0.0
metering: Pattern
flash: ON - flash extender

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Pretty cool pose, angle and eye contact. Sharpness looks good, too, I particularly like the head angle and being able to see the feet well. Do you have the entire tail, I'm wondering if it would look even stronger with the tail not clipped.

[Ramon M. Casares]

Oh... God... this is stunning! Superb use of flash IMO with great exposure ad outstanding detail, great pose and colors, nice tight comp and lovely, just lovely species, I wonder if placing the bird a bit higher in the frame would improve comp...

Big congratulations!!

[John Chardine]

Pretty cool pose, angle and eye contact. Sharpness looks good, too, I particularly like the head angle and being able to see the feet well. Do you have the entire tail, I'm wondering if it would look even stronger with the tail not clipped.

'fraid not Axel. I forgot to mention I did crop left and right but the tail was clipped in camera. I agree I think the full fanned tail would be optimal.

[Phil Ertel]

Hi John, I really like this one. The tight presentation works nicely. The eye contact is quite engaging. The exposure looks dead-on and good detail throughout. I agree with Axel that if you have it including the entire tail would be an option to considered. Good show!

[John Chardine]

Oh... God... this is stunning! Superb use of flash IMO with great exposure ad outstanding detail, great pose and colors, nice tight comp and lovely, just lovely species, I wonder if placing the bird a bit higher in the frame would improve comp...

Big congratulations!!

Thanks Ramón. I thought about cropping from the top but wanted to leave the wing exiting the image where it does. Right now the eye is pretty well right on the thirds lines.

[Phil Ertel]

Sorry John, I must have been typing when you posted your response on the tail. This is still a very pleasing image as presented.

[Lance Peters]

Hi John - My favorite species and a stunning shot, love the HA and the exposure/ use of flash is just spot on - IMHO. at 138mm These guys must have been coming really close.

Stunning - Big Congrats :)

[Fabs Forns]

This light didn't seem like the Cape :)

I like the use of flash you had here, looks good to me. I like the compos, too bad about the tail, but I'd still take anytime.

[Bryan Erb]

Wow love the detail and colors here, wish the whole tail was in the frame.

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Stunning image John, I love it as presented:)

[Grace Scalzo]

So much to engage the eye here, from the eye to the feet to the light shining through the tail. I love this as presented, for its interest and uniqueness.

[Manos Papadomanolakis]

I really like the pose,head angle and the details!!!

[Stu Bowie]

Superb close up, and well done with the flashwork and exposure. I like the headturn, detail and colours on his head, and wish you didnt clip his tail. Still, well captured.

[Juan Aragonés]

Too bad about the croped tail bu, John this is an stunning image in my opinion, just rocks! It is perfect for the cover of a book about NOGA, with empty rrom at the top for a the title, the strong graphica power of the image, and the perfect pose of the head.

The sky looks a bit overexposed, in fact it is very overexposed considering the sun angle and the intense colour of sky in a sunny day in a colony of gannets so I would mind to make a very agressive selective processing of the sky, and a light level adjustment in the bird. something like this.

Killer, killer image John.... I am really envious :p

[Jay Gould]

Juan, in addition to the PP description, did you do anything specific to the eye? It seems that the blue of the eye has changed to more closely match the BG. In both images the eye matches the BG. Love 'em both; I think the RP is a bit stronger.

[Juan Aragonés]

No Jay, I didn´t process the eye in a selective way, just created to layers, one for the sky (strong level adjustment) and another one for the bird (just a touch of levels adjustment to tone down the flash intensity just a bit).
In my experience shooting white birds overhead against a blue , sunny, sky, the colour of the sky right out of the camera is even deep and darker than in my repost (if you are using manual exposure). I have very few experience with the flash because birds in Spain do not get close enought as to use fill flash (except if you are inside a hide) so I can not help with fill flash in this image but I suspect that the brightness in the sky is related to the use of flash.

[John Chardine]

Many thanks for all the great comments and suggestions. This is what it's all about!

I predicted that many would think the bird over-flashed- I guess not. The shadow of the bill on the upper breast of the bird gives the flash away. I very much like Juan's repost- thanks Juan! The sky exposure in the original image just fell where it did because I set manual exposure as far to the right as I could and still maintain detail in the whites. Juan's repost looks a bit over-saturated on my monitor so I may back it off a touch.

[Erich Stevens]

You definitely don't see a shot like this every day. I am enjoying it for what it is: a well executed closeup of a stunning species. Excellent work!

[Kiran Poonacha]

Great expo control, beautiful sharp image with a good pose, agree about the tail, nevertheless a great image,,, congrats...

[Ryan Lambert]

Flash work at its best, very well captured image and the throw-awyas were worth it if you got an image like this, I'll ditto the comments regarding the tail. I quite like the sky in the repost...congrats