Puffin bonding

[Steve Kaluski]

Well it's that time of year, the Puffins are returning and the start of bonding & courtship. This is 'beak slapping' where two or more may either try to court the female or simply re bond their partnership after being away.

Steve
MKIII 70-200f/2.8 1/3200 f/5.6 ISO400 (HH, almost FF)

[Arthur Morris]

A good EXP and an intimate moment captured. The bird in the back is very sharp. The REDs look a bit over-saturated. But, there are two big problems here that could have been solved in the field.

The effect of the poor light angle could have been lessened with the use of lots of fill flash, -1 at least.

With the front bird o-o-f the image simply does not work for me at all. Focusing on the eye of that bird and working with lots more d-o-f (1/400 at f/16 or even 1/200 at f/22 if my math is correct) would have resulted in both birds being rendered sharply.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Artie

Firstly I am not a big fan of flash, as I feel that at times it's possibly is too disruptive to the animal, plus I do not want to spook them. They might get used to it, but I was not wanting to take that chance and IMHO, always put the animal first, to the detriment of the shot. However, I will bow to your knowledge. :) The moment is almost a freeze, as either side of this they 'beak slapped' at a very high rate and obviously was concerned not to get a series of blurred heads, hence the SS. Re the light, this was an issue, above the dips & hollows of the cliffs it was brilliant, harsh light that blew all whites, dipping their heads mean having to change compensation constantly so I just left it.

Appreciate your feedback and duly noted for next time. ;)

Steve

[Arthur Morris]

As this was a slap and not a kiss, the high shutter speed was a good choice. Focusing on the front bird would likely have been a better option than focusing on the rear bird.... As for the flash, it would be rarer than rare that it would bother a bird on a sunny day.

[Steve Kaluski]

Thanks Artie, good to know and learn. Banked for the future:)

Interesting to see where the Focus point was, and the outcome.

[Arthur Morris]

Assuming that you were in AI Servo AF it would seem that the base of the bill of the front bird was pretty much on the same plane as the face and even the eyes of the rear bird. (You can see that the bill of the front bird is behind the bill of the rear bird.)

[Joe Senzatimore]

Yes it has flaws , but I feel it is still a wonderful/natural moment captured. i would be happy to have this in my files. Always something to be learned.

[Fabs Forns]

I love the interaction, the colors and the OOF foreground. They are very hard to expose unless it is cloudy.