Black-browed Albatross

[Leo Berzins]

A Black-browed Albatross making a close pass on a pelagic trip from Wollongong in South-east Australia.
Having never been on a pelagic before, I had no idea how up close and personal you can get with these magnificent birds.

Canon 1Dx, 400f/5.6L, 1/2500s, f/5.6, ISO 1600, manual exposure, handheld
small crop from top and right to aid composition

[Mark Corpe]

You got great focus on the eye and head here Leo, nicely detailed shot.

[Richard Unsworth]

Fantastic bird -arent these the biggest wingspan 12ft?
What a memorable encounter and well captured, like the water stream off the bill.

[Don Railton]

Hi Leo, What Fantastic detail and the head and beak..! Love the waters stream. I think for me its a bit tight in the frame and I would add a small amount of canvas below and to the LHS. Well done... DON

[Linda Dulak]

Leo: What a great close encounter. I really like the focus on the head and beak and the water streaming from the beak. Also the eye contact is very nice.

I like the crop as it is since it emphasizes the size of the bird.

Linda

[Markus Jais]

Great shot. I like the close-up view of the bird. I also like the BG color a lot.

Markus

[Girish Prahalad]

very intimate view of the bird with excellent details & exposure

[Shawn Zierman]

Composition works well here imo. I enjoy the limited dof due to closeness to the subject, particularly the way it's rendered the far wing, created a nice diagonal line coming into the frame too...Exposure and details look very good. Excellent image! Wonder about running some NR on the background, not necessarily for noise, but for the small white spots (sea spray most likely) that are noticeable in the darker areas of the water....that might be going overboard with fine tuning though...just a thought. I'm suprised nobody suggested cleaning off the bill tip, but now I suppose I've jinxed that...No, whatever is on the bill tip, it does not bother me a bit...

[Daniel Cadieux]

Nice close-up view here! Exposure and details look good. My first thought was for a bit more room left and below, but certainly works OK as is. Not being familiar with the species, so take that into consideration, I feel the bill could perhaps benefit from a slight boost in saturation?