I spent last Sunday on a pelagic at the continental shelf off Port Fairy, Victoria, Australia. The birds are attracted to the boat using a berley. It was truly amazing seeing and photographing such magnificent seabirds up close. This is my favourite image of a White-capped Albatross in flight.
If you think it's easy getting good images on a rocking boat in the southern ocean ... it isn't :) I set VR to "Active".
I have some images of other seabirds I'd also like to share over the next week or two.
Thanks for looking.
Nikon D800E
AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II + TC-14E II, 280mm
HH
ISO 640, 1/4000 sec at f/8
Cropped for composition, Nik TC & DE, removed some specular highlights on the bill
03-30-2015, 06:10 AM
shane shacaluga
Very nicely done. Well focused around facial area, beak and breast. I like the composition here and with a wingspan this long its a tough choice on how to crop
I would like to see a version with shadows raised a bit more under the wing. If it is close to full frame you should have quite a bit of room to manouver on the raw file
Here is the repost with the shadows raised (maxed) in LR. I had to mask out the eye and brow as it lifted that area too much. What do you think?
03-31-2015, 03:44 AM
shane shacaluga
Looks a bit better Mark. There is so much you can do with this one without bringing in unwanted noise or the colours looking washed out.
The important bits are well in focus and nicely lit. You have composed it to draw attention there which is good.
Keep up the good work!
03-31-2015, 05:51 PM
Diane Miller
Very nice capture! What a gorgeous and noble face these guys have! Would love to see more!
The RP brings out a bit more detail under the wing. There is a bit of a blue cast -- would be interesting to play with the Temp slider in raw conversion, or Color Balance in PS. Removing a color cast can also often bring out more detail.
Here is the RP with the blue colour cast corrected. I agree - it does seem to bring out additional detail.
Thanks Shane & Diane. Loving the forum and learning so much with each image I post.
04-01-2015, 02:59 AM
shane shacaluga
This last post is the best out of the three! Well done. The face/beak looks even sharper for some reason
04-01-2015, 04:36 PM
Warren Spreng
Amazing shot! Love the eye!
04-01-2015, 06:19 PM
Diane Miller
Fixing the color cast has really made an improvement here. It brought contrast up, which gives a look similar to sharpening.
04-08-2015, 03:57 PM
Gabriela Plesea
Well done Marc! I see great improvement from the OP to the RP and love to see you experimenting! The BG is spotless and subject stands out so well, lovely detail and I love those water droplets - super shot, looking forward to the next:5
Kind regards,
07-25-2015, 04:13 PM
Jim Keener
One of the things I admire about this photograph and the responses you have gotten is that it helps me learn that a good shot can be made even better. I especially like the imaginative cropping and am eager to see more of your birds.
07-26-2015, 04:09 AM
Mark Bennett
Yes this forum really is an excellent way to learn. I'll try and post some more seabird images soon thanks Jim.