Wandering Albatross and the Southern Alps

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08-26-2018, 11:23 PM
Nikhil Patwardhan

1 Attachment(s)

Wandering Albatross and the Southern Alps

Attachment 177366

Location and date:
From June of this year on a short pelagic trip at Kaikoura, New Zealand. Birds were attracted by food (fish liver) by the tour operator.

Gear and EXIF:
Olympus E-M5 and 12-50mm lens with B+W circular polarizer. 1/500s f/6.1 ISO 200 at 49mm

PP:
I added a small strip of canvas to the top and left using content-aware fill in PhotoShop Elements 14.
Converted to JPEG from Olympus Viewer, then adjusted in Topaz DeNoise, canvas added, processed in Topaz Adjust, finally adjusted contrast in Photoshop Elements 14.

About the image:
I made a bunch of photos of this albatross that got pretty close to the small boat and at end of day was one of the few birds still hanging around after all the food had been consumed. To the right are the Southern Alps. The bird at the back is definitely less than ideal, I wish it was separate from the main bird. The low angle of the sun and the sparse birds in the middle of the sea was quite a beautiful scene. Clicked from the back of the boat leaning over the railing which was less than 2 feet tall and using the swivel LCD to compose the image. I have some shots of this bird on my phone and the huge face triggered the phone's face detection feature!

Edit note:
Btw I'm not sure if it's just my browser doing this -- the browser isn't showing the full width of the image, it truncates it to the right. Only on right clicking the image and doing "Open image in new tab" does the full 1920 wide image show.
08-27-2018, 01:05 AM
Allen Sparks

Hi Nikhil,
I like the low perspective and heads on view of the bird with nice head angle. As you mention the other birds in the frame are distracting. I would consider taking them out of the image.
Allen
08-27-2018, 06:40 AM
Arthur Morris

Framing is better than in the first one but this one lacks the wow factor and the two birds in the background are distracting as noted.

with love, artie
08-27-2018, 06:41 AM
Arthur Morris

ps: You can hit Command + or Command - till the image fits the full screen :)

with love, artie
08-27-2018, 10:54 AM
Nikhil Patwardhan

Cool :-)

Thanks both for the feedback
08-27-2018, 06:11 PM
Dorian Anderson

I love the concept of this shot! It's a great perspective on this magnificent species. And yes, the OOF birds are a bit distracting. I wish we could see a bit more of the land as well. Kaikoura is great! Will be back next year!
08-28-2018, 04:52 AM
Arthur Morris

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dorian Anderson

I love the concept of this shot! It's a great perspective on this magnificent species. And yes, the OOF birds are a bit distracting. I wish we could see a bit more of the land as well. Kaikoura is great! Will be back next year!

Dorian, If you like the perspective here, you should find the first post of this bird.

with love, artie
08-28-2018, 06:35 PM
Daniel Cadieux

Yes, the previous post had more punch and wow factor. I still like the overall design, but as noted, the BG birds are distracting, and critical focus is on the bird's back which has rendered the face soft. I like the low angle, light, cloud streaks in the sky.