Galapagos - Espanola - Punta Suarez -Waved Albatros

The Waved Albatross (Phoebastria irrorata) is also known as the Galapagos Albatross that breeds only on Espanola Island (though there have been a few sightings on other islands of the Galapagos). It is the only albatross that breeds at tropical latitudes. During the non-breeding season the Waved Albatross lives and feeds near the coastal areas of Ecuador and Peru. They are best known for their long flights which seem effortless (they tend to glide). Takeoffs and landings are difficult and lack grace (some landings will require 4 or 5 attempts) because of their enormous wingspan (7.5 ft - 2.4 mt) and light thin body (3.5 kg - 7.5 lbs). Couples will mate year after year unless one of the two were to die and their courting ritual seems to us to be a ritual like dance.

Punta Suarez on Espanola Island has some of the more difficult lava paths of the Galapagos. All visitors must stay on pre-defined paths which generally are just marked with two white tipped green 12 inch wooden poles hammered into the ground on each side. The terrain requires a lot attention and heavy camera bags and loads of equipment should be avoided even if you are well trained. Falling on the lava is no fun at all. That is why I had a light camera and a relatively light lens.

Nikon D300s
18-200mm f3.5-5.6
200mm
1/320
f/9
ISO 200
+0.3 EV
No Flash
Manual
Date and Time (Original) 2010:08:23 05:15:36 AM

Nice and sharp, a little more +ec would be nice. To bad about the clipped wing tip, as you were shooting with a zoom you could have given more room all around. As is would be an easy repair and canvas extension (if within your ethics).
TFS
Todd

The HA could be a bit better IMHO and shame about the clipped wing tip. As Todd said, easy to fix if you like that sort of stuff. Don't know why but I am struggling to see enough detail in the feathers and see a distinct halo most likely from sharpening for the web. Was the original underexposed? Thanks for sharing. :)

Here is a different version of the same.
The light was bad because at the equator there is no dusk and getting good exposure after 5:15PM can be tricky in particular when it is overcast as it was (unfortunately) when I was visiting Espanola. Galapagos takes getting used to which is why I'll need to go back and apply all the knowledge I have gained from the numerous mistakes I made. :)
Anyway this is a different image of the sequence. I liked the other one more honestly. I would not do canvas widening and other stuff because Todd is quite right. It is one thing to enhance "a little" (i.e. colors, shadows, etc.) it is quite another to use post processing to compensate for aim errors. The wing tip was not captured because my aim was faulty in this frame. This image is from a slightly different angle and better centered. The exposure values are the same as the initial image.

I think what I want to achieve with the posts I place here is to understand why the sort of things I did exposure wise (and so on) when I was taking slide images doesn't seem to always come out the way I would expect with digital. It is not a problem at 4:30 or 5:00 PM. My problems arise when the light is really low - at sunrise or sunset. Am I too shy with high levels of ISO? Should I exaggerate with EV at say 1.5 or 2.0 ? I have a D700 which is good in low light so maybe I should just abandon DX entirely in favor of DX.

Obviously my last phrase should have said "I have a D700 which is good in low light so maybe I should just abandon DX entirely in favor of FX."