Cormorant

[Steve Kaluski]

Again this was taken with Jamie being the good friend & guide he is, (LOL) early one morning.

Shot early morning the wind was wiping up and the tide was coming in quite quickly, so lying down flat meant we too would get wet and we did, being so close to the vegetation meant the smell had a nice 'aromatic aroma' too! However it cleared the sinuses. I think Jamie had the better position being to the left of me, ensuring the beams were not in the way or intersected with the subject, sadly I had no way of avoiding them as the cormorant was already very twitchy. I wanted to go really low to get the impression of being in the water and easily achieved as we were! The white line at the foot of the metal 'bar' is a highlight rim.

Thank again to those who viewed or posted a comment on the Sandhill crane.

Cheers
Steve

Subject: Cormorant sitting on rock in choppy water (Phalacrocorax carbo)
Location: Canada
Camera: Canon 1DX
Lens: 500f/4 with 1.4 Gitzo tripod/Wimberley head
Exposure: 1/400s at f/6.3 ISO2000 +1 EV Comp ​(almost FF)

[Steve Kaluski]

Cheers Peter, I think going in tighter works, and certainly it's cleaner with pot the post and gives more prominence to the subject, although I'm a little uncomfortable about the amount of content removal, (albeit not difficult), but for something like this I'm sure it would be fine. It's certainly no prize winner, but nice to get out there.

cheers
Steve

[Gabriela Plesea]

I find it so difficult to decide here...and I am really trying to make up my mind which image I like best - a bit of a challenge...so this is what I am thinking right now...I like both the OP and the RP for different reasons, the OP has some man-made elements in it which I quite like because they frame the subject very well, on the other hand the RP is free of any distractions and directs the eye towards the subject itself. I think I will go with the OP in the end, err...because I like the more complicated things in life, but also because I like the positioning of the subject within the frame more, as well as those pieces of wood sticking out of the water. There is a certain symmetry in the OP that appeals to me, one which gives a certain "depth", let us call it "ambiguity" to the image. It makes me look beyond the subject and then again back to the subject. In other words - it moves me. Don't know if this makes sense to you? I like the repetition of those "dark things", this photograph is somewhat like a narrative, keeping the logs is not necessarily the right thing to do in terms of photography yet they make me pay attention to the image as a whole. There is nothing spectacular about the subject in my view, it is the bird within its environment (be it man-made) that appeals to a viewer like myself.

Warmest regards,

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

Gabriela portrayed my thoughts nicely. No need to repeat them. I know that we mostly want to get top marks for a pic by PP'ing them to everyone's liking (quite suitable for competitions), but sometimes I just feel like showing something like I saw it. Personally: I would have brought this one even closer in the RP (and tilted it a little to the left) so we can see those beautiful eyes from much closer!

Well done with this one Steve, it's evident that it was taken under non-ideal circumstances but even so it's a keeper!

[Steve Kaluski]

Thanks folks, keeper or not, it's always worth posting and getting new ideas from others, as a simply change can make all the difference and so I appreciate the feedback. Sometimes you go down a train of thought and do not always see 'the wood for the tree'.

cheers
Steve

[keith mitchell]

Hi Steve,must say I like it more without the dark area, the comments from yourself and others makes interesting and informative reading.
Keith.