Campbell Albatross, the "one with the evil eye" II
I have posted this image of Campbell Albatross Thalassarche impavida for Robert Kimbrell who wanted to see a head shot. The picture was taken on 14 April 2013 off the southern Australian coast about 50 km out from Port Fairy, State of Victoria. The bird was attracted to the back of our boat using chopped up shark liver. The image shows the discharge of concentrated salty mucous which originates from a gland behind the nostril. The mucous runs down a groove between the top bill plate and the side plate. At the end of the bill, the mucous runs along the cutting edge to the tip where a drip forms. It is a beautiful design employing gravity and surface tension, even works when the bird is flying, and the drip is often captured in shots of pelagic seabirds.
Canon 5DIII + 300 mm f/2.8L II + 1.4x III extender, hand-held.
Av priority with spot metering, f/8, 1/3200 sec, ISO 800, exposure compensation -1/3 EV.
Processed in DPP: adjust WB, shad/h'lights, saturation, USM, RAW-TIFF. PS Elements: select bird, adjust shad/h'lights on bird, fine tune brightness, background NR, extend canvas at top, crop, TIFF-JPEG, USM. The WB and brightness were adjusted on the bird's crown.
Thanks for the post Ian, Its nice to get so much information, on such a stunning bird I don't get to photograph. Beautifully exposed whites. A fascinating eye this bird has, beautiful yet , I guess evil is the right word, Thanks for the lesson on the mucous discharge. You presented an excellent photo to describe the process. A beautiful image, thanks for sharing.
Thanks for your generous feedback Robert and John. After I uploaded the image, I felt that I should have extracted a bit more contrast from the whites on the bird's crown. In this repost I have tried to get a little bit more - I hope I have not over-cooked it. Regards, Ian
Hi Ian, very nice head shot with good details and yes the evil eye! The RP looks good. The water droplet adds to the image. I feel the image a bit tight at the bottom as presented. it may look less tight if you take a sliver off the bottom IMHO. Loi
No, not overcooked, just right! I was busy looking at the OP and reading your info thinking " a tad more contrast would be perfect" only to scroll down and find your RP! Well exposed and colours look very natural to me, the pose enhances the so-called "evil look", subject pops beautifully against the sea in the BG, water droplets a bonus - really enjoyed viewing, thank you for this lovely post.
Campbell Albatross, the "one with the evil eye" II
Reply With Quote
I was busy looking at the OP and reading your info thinking " a tad more contrast would be perfect" only to scroll down and find your RP! Well exposed and colours look very natural to me, the pose enhances the so-called "evil look", subject pops beautifully against the sea in the BG, water droplets a bonus - really enjoyed viewing, thank you for this lovely post.
Well done
