Midway/Laysan Albatross Pan Blur

It was a stormy morning yesterday with 40+ mph east winds and cloudy skies. We avoided the rain :) Uncharacteristically the birds were landing right near the restaurant so we changed our usual strategy and set out to create some intentionally blurred images.

This image was created with the handheld Canon 70-200mm f/4 L IS lens, the 1.4X II TC, and the EOS-7D. ISO 200. Manual mode +2 stops off the white sand: 1/15th sec. at f/13. Fill flash at -1 stop with the Better Beamer.

I did learn one important lesson: with the bushes right behind the birds using Manual flash at 1/1 was not a good plan as the powerful flash rendered the leaves sharp and glarey. Denise and I have started working on a guide to pleasing blurs. :)

Very cool Artie! I look forward to a guide on doing these. I discovered that they are a lot harder than it might seem!! :) Bird looks like it is struggling with the wind.

I love the landing gear down pose! Beautifully blurred w/ a great sense of motion. I like it ALOT!:) You did a great job dealing with the BG bushes-they add a lot of color w/o being distracting.

Amazing result under those conditions, Arthur. I'm having difficulty trying to achieve a decent blur under near perfect conditions:D So glad you and denise will be devising some guidelines! Kora

Been practicing for a week, these are tough and you have good definition in the bird and a nice smooth pan. If it is full frame I will just be sick too:eek:.

I really like the diagonal line of the blurred BG - that really adds a whole other layer of interest, Artie!

Excellent blur, Artie. I like the pose and the diagonal lines of the bg. Looking forward to the guide.

Artie, beautiful bg on the diagonal and the color really seems to enhance the albatross. I can hardly wait for the guide:)