Farne island Puffin landing

[Jamie Douglas]

I dont post in here very often but thought I'd get back into the swing of things now I have some avian pics to work on. This is one of my favs from an overcast trip to the Farne Isles last week. It's an incredible place that I grew up very close to but never explored more than once because it took me the first 28 years of my life to pick up a camera. Now I live on the otherside of the world but I will for sure venture back one day.

Techs...

Canon 7D, 400mm F5.6 @ 5.6, 1/1250, ISO800, +1 2/3

C&C welcome

Thanks

Jamie

[Dumay de Boulle]

Superb IQ and teh pose in perfect. I like the little bit of wing blur. Looks great Jamie

[Bob Pelkey]

Overcast days appear to be most favorable. I sent a note to Rucci
recently letting him know that I was stuck indoors because of overcast conditions.
He replied of the opportunities to be had, but I certainly didn't make it clear
that it looked like a downpour was to ensue at any moment. The fish in the
beak really make this image stand out for longer study of the shot.

[Ofer Levy]

Excellent flight and behaviour shot. Would prefer a bit less blur on the wings.

[Joe Senzatimore]

I'm with Ofet on the wing blur. I guess the lack of light contributed to this. The head/beak seems a bit soft and the feet seem to be the sharpest portion. Focus point issues???? I love the composition with the bit of room on the right for the bird to fly into. The vegitation on the lower left keeps the viewer looking at the bird , which is a good thing. Look forward to more posts from you.

[Bill Dix]

Nice incoming shot; good colors, fish a bonus, and I like the comp with the feet just clearing the land. I might have preferred just a slivver more space on the bottom. I agree with Ofer and Joe that a little less blur on the wings would have improved it, but I'd still love to have it.

[gail bisson]

Jamie,
I like the comp and how the picture is grounded by the vegetation in LLC. The capelin in the mouth really add to this shot. Wing blur is a bit too much for my taste but I appreciate the difficulty with low light levels and SS and EV needed.
Gail

[Jamie Douglas]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. The light really sucked for pushing the shutter speeds to reduce wing blur and I agree it could have been a touch sharper overall but I was using the camera hand held which isnt ideal in such windy conditions. This was my first effort photographing puffins on land (photographed from a moving boat once before with limted but rewarding success, http://500px.com/photo/745300).


I'm with Ofet on the wing blur. I guess the lack of light contributed to this. The head/beak seems a bit soft and the feet seem to be the sharpest portion. Focus point issues???? I love the composition with the bit of room on the right for the bird to fly into. The vegitation on the lower left keeps the viewer looking at the bird , which is a good thing. Look forward to more posts from you.

Joe, Bill, I wanted to post this screenshot of the original file so you can see the focus point positioned nicely on the head. The head is sharper than the feet on the original RAW file so I will have a go at processing this again. I do agree with your comments on the image being a little tight given I missed including some additional foreground. But man these guys move fast. There must have been 30+ birds coming in to land at any one time and picking the right bird with a healthy catch of sand eels was tricky.

I have more :)

Thanks for the feedback.

[Herb Houghton]

Nice comp Jamie. I like the landing pose and sharpness, even on the feet. :bg3: I also would have liked a little less wing blur, but it still is a fine capture.

[Jamie Douglas]

Thanks Herb.