Gentoo Penguin Rising

[Jay Gould]

This was a most interesting experience our last day in the Falklands. We - a bunch of us - had found a place where the Gentoos were exiting the water in the traditional manner -literally blasting straight out of the water at a slight angle so that they - when done properly - landed on their feet a couple of feet above the water line.

At first I tried to obtain the images looking through the view finder - no joy! Then I simply focused on an area where they exited and watch the activity. When it appeared that they were going to exit - a group of 20-30 swimming to the shore and all of a sudden going under the water about 10+ feet from the rocks - you watched and as soon as you saw them start to exit down went the shutter release and you hoped for the best.

This Gentoo did it right and as you can see rose out off the water in proper fashion. After viewing this image, cyber over the the ETL http://birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?p=442775#post442775 to see what happens when it isn't done properly! :D

Camera: 7D
Capture date/time: 3 Jan 10; 4PM
Light condition: fading
Lens: 300 f/2.8
Focal length: 300
Extender: none
Distance: 26m
Tube: none
Flash/Comp: no
ISO: 400
Exp Prog: Tv
Speed: 1/1600 sec
Aperture: f/5.6
Exp Comp: none
Metering: Evaluative
WB: Auto
AF Drive: AI Servo
Tripod: yes
Filter: None
Crop: 50%
Processed in LR 3 (beta) and then CS4 - plus Topaz Suite and Pixel Genius Sharpening.
All C&Cs gratefully appreciated!

[Tony Whitehead]

Great moment captured, Jay. Image looks a little soft - not sure if it is a crop, focus or sharpening issue. Comp wise a little more room for the bird to jump into would be nice - as presented it seems to be leaping out of frame. Smaller aperture, higher ISO may have increased DOF to allow for the uncertainty of the exact exit spot - AF servo without looking through the viewfinder would be a challenge to get the sensor on the subject - single shot profocussed on the exit spot may have been and option. Hard to know without being there - one day maybe:)

[Jay Gould]

Great moment captured, Jay. Image looks a little soft - not sure if it is a crop, focus or sharpening issue. Comp wise a little more room for the bird to jump into would be nice - as presented it seems to be leaping out of frame. Smaller aperture, higher ISO may have increased DOF to allow for the uncertainty of the exact exit spot - AF servo without looking through the viewfinder would be a challenge to get the sensor on the subject - single shot profocussed on the exit spot may have been and option. Hard to know without being there - one day maybe:)

Tony, we had no idea where they were going to pop out within a 10+ foot area along the rocks. When they started popping out in the general area we blasted. It was only seconds from start to finish as they were always exiting as quickly as possible to avoid being food for the leopard seals.

All cropping was done above, below and on the right side. The Gentoo could just as easily popped up on the right side of the frame - you just never knew were they were going to appear.

Thanks for the input.

[Tony Whitehead]

Thanks for the further info, Jay. Sounds like and impressive spectacle and challenging to capture.

[Joe Senzatimore]

Very challenging to say the least. Tony covered the tech. points very well. Fine effort on your part. Must have been great fun to see.

[arash_hazeghi]

Hi Jay, tough image to get!!! nice behavior, since the penguin is looking to the left I would crop the "negative" space on the right and add more room to the left. Focus is on the water drops instead of the bird and that combined with busy BG makes it difficult for the bird to stand out. Must have been real fun to watch these guys do this, this is one of the situations where video might have had a merit over a photograph.
TFS

[Jay Gould]

Ah, for a learning exerience who wants to tackle extending this canvass on the left?

I have just learned how to do it for blank backgrounds; I would think this would be a nightmare for most including ME!

[Ed Cordes]

Cool action! It does look a bit soft.

[Tony Whitehead]

Here's a quick play with content aware scaling, Jay. A bit of cloning in darken and lighten mode. Would need more time to finesse the water.

[Jay Gould]

Here's a quick play with content aware scaling, Jay. A bit of cloning in darken and lighten mode. Would need more time to finesse the water.

Tony, that is great - never did anything with CAS - could you do an explanation of how you did it? Even a tutorial that might be moved to the ER forum?

[Tony Whitehead]

could you do an explanation of how you did it? Even a tutorial that might be moved to the ER forum?
Jay, it just needs extension of canvas, select the area you want to enlarge with a rectangular marquee then go to Edit/Content aware scale and drag the handle across onto the new canvas.