Great Cormorant

[Colin Knight]

Very few of my images are good enough to post in this forum. This one might be. I appreciate C&C. More NR may be necessary, but it won't show in print so I won't take that any further. Also, I love the bent primaries, with a touch of motion blur. The long take off time of these guys makes it a lot easier to achieve the same.

Kayak, Canon 50D, 500mm f/4, 1.4x TC, 1/800 sec, f/7.1, ISO 800.

http://www.pbase.com/clknight/image/119219008/original.jpg

Thanks for viewing,
Colin

[Daniel Cadieux]

Hey Colin, this one is working very well for me. Great pose, action, low angle, comp. As posted it looks a little soft and could benefit from some additional sharpening (on subject only). Well done!

[Colin Knight]

Thanks Daniel!

Pbase seems to soften the images no matter what I do. But it could probably use additional sharpening anyway.

Colin

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Nice takeoff pose and splash. PBase images look soft when you post a resized version. I post only the original size and that way they look fine.

[Colin Knight]

Thanks for the clarification on pbase, Axel.

Colin

[Connie Mier]

I can't really tell if the softness is due to postprocessing or not, but I can tell you in my humble experience that 1/800 is relatively slow for these guys and if you managed to get a sharpness on its head, great for you. I really like the angle you captured here, and you managed to get that splash without compromising the space in front of the bird. Well captured and especially from a boat.
Connie

[Colin Knight]

Thanks Connie! I didn't want to make the jump to ISO 1600. I should have though in retrospect. It's better than almost missing the shot. I guess the head is moving the least, so it's relatively sharp. And yes, 1/800 is slow, especially on a kayak!

Thanks,
Colin

[Danny J Brown]

Hi Colin: All tech comments (which I agree with) aside, this is a very cool action shot with a nice low angle and water flying everywhere, even in front. Keep listening to these guys and you'll come up with some even better shots. Thanks for sharing.

[Colin Knight]

Thanks for the critique and encouragement, Danny!

Colin

[Joe Senzatimore]

Good job shooting from a boat. Not an easy task. I does seem a touch soft but still nice action captured.

[Colin Knight]

Thanks Joe! I feel like I've accomplished something when I get a keeper in these conditions.

Colin

[Arthur Morris]

When they take off they almost always head away from you. I love that this bird is angling towards you. For the repost I sharpened the bird only and increased the contrast a bit.

[Colin Knight]

Much better Arthur! Thanks.

Is that what you've found with take off? It seems that they are forced to take off into the wind, whatever direction that happens to be. Just my observation though. When there's no avoiding them, like today going to my blind, I always make sure I paddle by upwind if possible so that they're facing me, or at least I get a profile view upon take off.

Again, great repost. Contrast is a great "sharpening" technique as well.

Colin

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Colin,

re:

Is that what you've found with take off? It seems that they are forced to take off into the wind, whatever direction that happens to be.

That is correct but even when the wind is good for the photographer they tend to shy away from any watercraft that they might see.

Just my observation though. When there's no avoiding them, like today going to my blind, I always make sure I paddle by upwind if possible so that they're facing me, or at least I get a profile view upon take off.

You did well.

Again, great repost. Contrast is a great "sharpening" technique as well.

Thanks. It's all in Digital Basics.

[Arthur Morris]

Why do you think that this is a Great Cormorant? (The chin should be white on this species....) Where and when was it photographed??? Looks like a double-crested to me.

[Colin Knight]

Arthur, once again, I'm sure you're right. I'm not sure that I could tell it's a double crested Cormorant unless it was breeding season when I understand the tufts of feathers are visible. Basically, Game Wardens around here at local state parks cite double crested sightings as being very rare in this area. Because of that and the size, I defaulted to the Great Cormorant. What's your verdict?

It was photographed today at Lake Wylie in SC.

Colin

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Beautiful action and timing Colin. Really like Artie's repost. The composition is stunning with the reflections !!!

[Arthur Morris]

Arthur, once again, I'm sure you're right. I'm not sure that I could tell it's a double crested Cormorant unless it was breeding season when I understand the tufts of feathers are visible. Basically, Game Wardens around here at local state parks cite double crested sightings as being very rare in this area. Because of that and the size, I defaulted to the Great Cormorant. What's your verdict?

It was photographed today at Lake Wylie in SC.

Colin

I am pretty sure that all GCs have white throats. Post the image in Avian ID and ask them what it is. There are some sharp folks over there. Then send me a link.

[Colin Knight]

Thanks Judy! And yes, Art knows what he's doing.

Art: http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?p=378756#post378756

I'll be anxious to see what they say.

Colin

[Arthur Morris]

Did you say South Carolina??????????????????????????????????????

[Colin Knight]

Art- Yes, SC.

Colin

[Kiran Poonacha]

gurus ropost put it over the top, nice timing, details and the reflection adds well... congrats..

[Colin Knight]

Thanks Kiran!

I'm thrilled with the positive responses I've gotten from the experts here.

Colin

[Arthur Morris]

Art- Yes, SC. Colin

Hi Colin, Then either the biologist screwed up big time or you misunderstood them. Great Cormorant would be extremely rare in SC ever. Double-crested is the expected species.

[Colin Knight]

Thanks Art!

Looks like that's the answer.

[Stu Bowie]

Well timed for the take off Colin, and these type of shots are always hard to comp. One wants to show the splash, show the subject, and still try and have space for them to fly into. In this, I would maybe have brought in a tad from the left to just behind the splash, and added a bit to the right. Still, well captured.

[Colin Knight]

Thanks Stuart! You have well described the composition problem. Thanks for the advice!

Colin

[Arthur Morris]

As far as the COMP is concerned, I would not change a pixel. That said making alternative compositions is always and option.

[Danny Laredo]

Colin, great timing and capture here. I think this is the first proper Great Cormorant takoff I have seen.

[Arthur Morris]

Danny, It is a Double-Crested....

[Doug Brown]

Very nice image Colin! I've seen quite a few Cormies landing towards the camera but very few taking off towards one. I like the low angle that you got by photographing from a kayak. As far as shutter speed goes, you could have shot f/5.6 and gained 2/3 stop of speed without bumping your ISO. Look forward to more of your images on BPN!

[Colin Knight]

Thanks Doug!

Perhaps you could tell me where my standard shooting settings could be better. In this case, I didn't want to go higher than ISO 800. I normally shoot in shutter priority. I don't want to go lower than 1/800 in most cases due to motion blur from the moving kayak. Here, anything higher than 1/800 would yield underexposed images depending on where I was metering. Normally, I could adjust the settings as I'm shooting, but in the kayak, getting the bird relatively in focus is all I can manage at one time.

To think what could have been at a higher shutter speed.....=)

Thanks again!
Colin

[Doug Brown]

Perhaps you could tell me where my standard shooting settings could be better.

Hi Colin. This isn't so much about standard shooting settings. It's about adapting to available light when you're trying to capture action. ISO 800 and 1/800 are good places to start. But 1/800 is usually about as slow as I like to go. Let's look at your photo as an example. Your aperture of f/7.1 reveals that you could have boosted your shutter speed by 2/3 of a stop (a maximum aperture of f/5.6 is 2/3 of a stop wider than f/7.1). Taking the same image at f/5.6 and 1/1250 would have yielded an identical exposure but there would have been more emphasis on stopping the action.

I normally shoot aperture priority when I'm not using manual exposure. In aperture priority, I know that if I'm my aperture is wide open I'm getting the fastest shutter speed that available light will allow (at a given ISO). If wide open doesn't give me enough shutter speed, I am forced to either underexpose or bump my ISO.

[Colin Knight]

Thanks, Doug. I may need to rethink my strategy. I like to stay away from my widest aperture, to allow for some AF error (on my part) but I doubt that 1 stop DOF even matters at a long distance like that, much less 2/3 stop.

I might give Av mode a try next time.

Colin

Thanks!
Colin