Too Cute: Back from Torres del Paine, Chile

[Arthur Morris]

Almost home from a great 2-week trip to Chilean Patagonia where Denise Ippolito and I spoke at the Avistar Bird Photography Festival. We were blessed to spend a week at Torres del Paine after the event.

This Torrent Duck chick image was created with the Gitzo 3532 LS carbon fiber tripod, the Mongoose M3.6 head, the Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens, the Canon 2x EF Extender III (Teleconverter), and the Canon EOS-1D X. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +1 stop: 1/400 sec. at f/11 in Av mode.

Central sensor (by necessity) Expand/AI Servo Rear Focus AF on the front of the wing stub active at the moment of exposure. Click here if you missed the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial. Click on the image to see a larger, cuter version.

And click here to read "Torrential Miracle" that details our amazing morning with the ducklings.

[Martin Dunn]

Cute indeed Arthur.
Exceptional clarity and detail.
Although there is quite a lot of texture in the foreground water it doesn't distract in any way from the chick. Suoer!

[Iain Barker]

Great image Artie.
I love the light on the water and the detail on the duckling is fantastic.
I can't decide if having it more to the right would make it even better with the bifd looking to the left slightly.
I enjoyed reading your blog too.
Thanks for sharing.
Iain

Sent from my GT-I8190N using Tapatalk

[Bill Dix]

Beyond cute. I love the water drops suspended on his fine feathers, and the detail in general. I'm OK with the right/left position but might be tempted to try a little off the bottom. (Lots of room for personal preferences here.) You captured some fine images of this beautiful duck species, and the spectacular Patagonian landscape. Welcome home.

[gail bisson]

What a cutie pie!
I like your composition but wouldn't mind a bit more room on the left.
The detail and IQ of the chick are excellent. Sharp but still keeps the fuzzy wuzzy texture of the chick.
But what makes this shot are the water droplets on the feathers.
Well done,
Gail

[Girish Prahalad]

excellent pose, DOF, details & exposure. the droplets on the back adds a lot.

[Emanuel Tiberi]

Arthur, I live 3 hours from Paine and I still can't belive what you've found!
Love those water droplets on his back, and how it "completes" the image. I'm with Bill, I think that a little less room on the bottom would be better.

[Satish Ranadive]

Every thing has been said about this spectacular image of cute little one.
Love the fine super sharp feather details and water droplets in them.
Another vote for crop at the bottom. TFS.

Regards,
Satish.

[Jonathan Ashton]

The duckling is optimal, such detail and those droplets! I would suggest crop a little from the bottom and consider lowering the brightness of the water a little bit.

[Daniel Cadieux]

The direction where the bill is pointing and eyes are looking towards makes the amount of room at bottom OK to me. Very cute subject, and the water drops are the icing on the cake!

[arash_hazeghi]

nice low angle and details, placement looks good to me. I only wish you had warmer light to work with, looks like it was overcast (?)

[Michael Wayne]

Adorable...the BG light is a little to bright for my eyes, but a great capture!

[John Robinson]

All been said really
JR