Wing Flap

[Rachel Hollander]

Another image from Machias Seal Island.

Canon 7D
100-400 @ 250mm
1/4000
f5.6
ISO 400
EC - .33
HH from a blind, ff, levels, curves, selective dodging and burning, NR to bg and sharpened in CS5.

C&C welcome and appreciated. Thanks,

Rachel

[Randy Stout]

Rachel:

It is amazing that they can fly with such stubby wings!

Good job on the whites, and blacks, I love the foot up a smidge casting the shadow, and curved rock he is perching on .

Wish the background was all rock, or all blue. Normally i would say, move to your left a foot, but not an option in the blind of course.

I would consider toning down(burning in) the faint white band right in front of his beak. Not much of an issue, but that beak pulls our eye right to that spot.

Cheers

Randy

[Mike Milicia]

Great job catching the wing flap, composing in camera, and not clipping a wing!
Harsh light not ideal but you handled it very well!

[dankearl]

The beak is awesome, another very fine photo, Rachel, the oof rock BG really contrasts well for these guys.

[rajandesai]

Love the wing position. Nice job exposing this guy correctly. I would have opted for little more dof since shutter was fast enough, but that is just a minor nit.

[Sachin Saraf]

Rachel, Very nice capture of this cute bird...I would tone down the bright area of rock slightly...Other than that it looks good to me..even in that harsh light you exposed white and blacks very nicely..TFS

[christopher galeski]

nice one good exposure,nice detail,like the pose.thanks.

[gail bisson]

I really like this one Rachel.
Very nice pose and the light is not as harsh on this one.
I like the exposure. Whites look great.
Agree with Rajan re: more DOF by increasing aperture and decreasing SS would have helped get that far wing in better focus.
Gail

[Wynand van Wyk]

Light very well handled in this image and like the exposure. Great pose and detail!

Well done.

[Marina Scarr]

This is a pleasing capture, Rachel. I like the fact that you have both the blue and rocks in the BG depicted the varied environment. You handled the tough light extremely well b/c I can see a lot of details in your whites. The pose is awesome and I like the raised foot. Some might thing it's easy to photograph birds @ Machias b/c they are so close and numerous. The truth is it can be quite challenging since you are confined to a hide, the lighting conditions are usually difficult, and isolating birds is another issue.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Rachel, good exposure throughout the Puffin, and I too am amazed at how these guys can fly with those short wings. ( I have only seen them fly on nature programs on TV ) I would tone down the rock a bit.

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the exposure, details and sharpness. Well done under challenging conditions Rachel!

[Karl Egressy]

Very nice image, Rachel. I like the wing flap, details and sharpness. Were you allowed to use flash? Just asking.

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks everyone for the kind comments and suggestions. I will tone down the rocks. Marina - you are so right about the conditions and how difficult it is to isolate a bird at Machias. I have lots of images where a bird stuck its head in or blocked the best action.

Karl - I'm pretty sure they told us no flashes and the blind would probably block most of the effect of the flash anyway.

Thanks again,
Rachel