Gentoo Penguin in the rain

[Ian Wilson]

The birds in this part of the world are very obliging and even walk up to check out one's brand of camera and nibble the lens hood. On the down side, the pressure cells are bunched up so close that it rains at some stage just about every day. The shot was taken at Hasselborough Bay, Macquarie Is, Australian sub-Antarctic, on 6 January 2014. I was lying on my belly in penguin poo to get this shot hence the quizzical look on the birds face.
Canon 5DIII + 300 mm f/2.8L II + 2x III extender, hand-held.
Av priority, f/11, 1/1600 sec, ISO 1250.
Processed in DPP: adjust WB, brightness (+0.5), shad/highlights, saturation, USM, RAW-TIFF. PS Elements: extended canvas left and right, crop, selective sharpen on tail, brightened eye, removed piece of seaweed from under bill, downsize, USM.

[Binu John]

Very nice shot, Ian! Sweet colors and diffused light! The exposure is spot on! Is it a full-frame shot?

[Ian Wilson]

Very nice shot, Ian! Sweet colors and diffused light! The exposure is spot on! Is it a full-frame shot?

Thanks for your feedback Binu. I was shooting this little fella in portrait orientation while he was standing tall and did not have the wit to change to landscape when he leaned over to take a closer look at the camera. The subsequent crop to landscape was a bit tight so a added a little canvas left and right. regards, Ian

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Ian, getting down and dirty has paid off here - great perspective 'looking up' to the penquin. I do like the frayed left fin, exposure spot on, and I really like the orange feet and splash of orange on the beak.

[christopher galeski]

nice image,good detail,like the pose,like the downy fether on the end of the wing.

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Very nice details overall. Good exposure and colours.
If mine, I would keep the 2:3 ratio and would give more room all around the bird as it looks tight in the frame.

[gail bisson]

I have bookmarked the name of the expedition company you traveled with! Another trip for the bucket list!
You are getting some amazing shots from this trip.
I like the orange reflection of the feet on the belly.
I would add more canvas to the left if you can do it without repeating patterns as it feels a bit tight. I appreciate the dilemma you were in though and think you did really well.
Excellent choice of aperture for this large penguin at such close range,
Gail

[Marina Scarr]

There is so much to absorb with this image. I love the tight crop but would also love a looser version understanding that it would probably be a completely different shot. I love those feathers on the fin and the raindrops. That reflection on the belly is pretty cool too and the pose.

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Awesome pose and a great call on the DOF. I love the overall depth to the image. Exposure is nice and the orange adds a nice splash of color.
I can see why you went with a tight comp here, but I would crop a tad bit from the bottom (the oof part) and add that much at least to the top and a bit to the left optionally (but comps are subjective by nature)
I'm thoroughly enjoying your penguin images. TFS Ian and please keep them coming.

[Ian Wilson]

Thank you J. C., Gail, Sidharth and Marina for your excellent advice re cropping this image. It is a great strength of this forum that so much experience and wisdom can be quickly brought to bear on tricky problems like I faced here. My rule of thumb is to try to get the bird's eye somewhere near the optical centre of the crop which I did not achieve because I was not brave enough to add a bigger chunk of canvas to the left. The background has a big oof wave rolling in which would become more obvious if I cropped a bit higher, however, I am not so sure about Sidharth's suggestion to crop more off the oof foreground. Regarding cropping in general, I have found it instructive to look at old masters' paintings and am surprised at how many are 'tight crops' by our standards and very few have the wide open spaces favoured by some of our friends. Whether the old masters are relevant to our craft is a matter of opinion but I certainly think we have much to learn from them. Warm regards, Ian.