Same Cormie, Different Pose

[Harold Davis]

i'm with lance, work the subject!!!! this cormorant was trying to get a few winks so i just sat with it until it decided to do something. people walking by would make it look up every now and then. only problem was changing light. really got to watch your exposures!!! can change big time in seconds! taken at ENP last sunday PM. i darkened the upper left corner a touch, but not too much. i like the spotlight effect it creates. also added some contrast and lightened the eye area. i know the composition is against the rules. i was trying to bend them a little here.:)

D300, 300mm at f/6.3, 1/320s, ISO 640, manual exposure at +1.0EV

thanks for looking. comments and critiques much appreciated.

[Thanaboon Jearkjirm]

Love the look and pose on this bird, the details in the black look really good and you have the focus right on the eye. Nice texture on the beak too. At first I thought the black shadow on the neck is lost but histogram show it was good. Not sure if the against the rule composition work here, it make me feel that is something behind the bird (that not in the picture) the way you presented it.

[Lance Peters]

Hi Harold - love that eye - when you have the time to work the subject anther thing I would have tried would have been to stop down to f8 of f10 and focus about half way along the bill instead of on the eye - and tried to get all of the bill/eye ion focus. The DOF of course depends on how far away the subject is - may not have been possible - Could plug the info into a DOF calculator on you phone to see if the DOF was going to work before taking the image.

Love the pose Harold - Good HA and eye contact and exposure looks spot on.
:)

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Harold I like the bird, the BG. Like the comp.:)

[Harold Davis]

thanks guys!! lance, that bird was about 10 feet away. without doing the calculations, i'm guessing it would have been close to impossible to get it all in focus. BUT!!, i am gonna try to hyperfocal it next time!! thanks for your time!! where is everybody!!!!!?

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Harold I thought I recognized that bird :)

Tough making portraits with that beak angle, I have tried stopping down but the beak just be in focus. Do also try going the other way for shallow dof and pick later !!! Great working the bird, at times can be big reward !!!

[Desmond Chan]

I think this is the best of the series so far ! For my personal taste I'd be tempted to crop tighter. But it's just me :)

[Jeff Cashdollar]

These face/beak DoF shots are difficult in most cases. Artie mentions the techniques in one of his recent bulletins. Nice one harold, maybe a tad tight maybe not.

[Bill Dix]

Great eye, and feather detail. I agree with breaking the comp "rules" sometimes, but I'm not convinced this one works as well as the earlier post. Just my opinion.