Magnificent Frigatebird

[Henry Domke]

On Sunday I was at the Fishing Pier on Sanibel Island photographing Royal Terns. When I paused and looked up I saw some Frigatebirds flying much lower than I'd seen before. They got close enough that I could see they they have iridescent greens and blues in their faces.

My question with this image is the cropping. Nothing felt right to me, but I ended up going with a square crop since it was best at filling the frame. Suggestions?

Canon 5D3
Canon EF 400mm f/2.8 L IS II (on loan from CPS)
ISO: 1250
Aperture: f/9
Shutter Speed: 1/3200
Manual Exposure
Hand Held
AI-Servo AF with the center AF sensor selected
AF Area Selection Mode: AF Point Expansion (4 points)
AI-Servo Case 2 ("Versatile Multipurpose")


Raw file processed in Lightroom 4 with slight local adjustments in Photoshop CS6.

[Karl Egressy]

Nice image of a hard to shoot species, Henry.

[arash_hazeghi]

nice that you got the red pouch! It is a bit steep angle and he has turned his head away from us. The underwing for the near looks a bit dark to me. As for cropping you can go for a vert with more room around the bird.

TFS

[Daniel Cadieux]

The square crop would work if the comp was looser...it just feels cramped here. Arash has touched on the other issues, and I agree. Nice indeed to see some iridescence on the face...must have been fun to watch these guys fly by like this!