This head portrait of a flapping Brant was created on the recently concluded Barnegat Jetty IPT with the tripod-mounted Canon EF 800mm f/5.6L IS USM Autofocus lens, the Canon 1.4x EF Extender III (teleconverter), and the Canon EOS-1D X digital SLR . ISO 800. Evaluative metering +1 1/3 stops: 1/320 sec. at f/11 in Manual mode.
Central sensor (by necessity)/AI Servo Expand/Rear Focus AF on the center of the bird’s face active at the moment of exposure. Click here if you missed the Rear Focus Tutorial. Full frame but for a smidge off the top. NIK Tonal Contrast on the bird only really helped as the light was flat. Bill and plumage detail clean-up. Viveza Control Points on the BKGR only added to the high key look (of the white sand BKGR).
I was a bit lucky here on two counts:
1-I was able to keep the sensor on the bird’s face and maintain accurate focus even though the bird was flapping its wings.
2-the resulting image was sharp at 1/320 sec., a relatively slow shutter speed for a moving subject. I did employ some excellent stalking techniques to get close to this usually shy species
Many might be interested in two recent blog posts: "Why The Biggest Gun?" and "Barnegat Miracle."
As for the image, don't be shy; all comments are welcome.








Reply With Quote
, but admit not being keen on the wing showing, just the head /portrait would work better for me


