King Penguin advertisement pose.

[Ian Wilson]

These two handsome fellows have just come ashore and are making short trumpet calls to let all the unattached girls know they have arrived at the party. The Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds describes the advertisement pose better than me: 'head lifted, bill nearly vertical, neck fully extended, eyes half closed, flippers held at a small angle from body, back slightly concave, and tarso-metatarsi raised from ground'. I love the last bit - it looks like they are wearing rubber boots. Frames I shot just one minute later show a young female on the scene looking these two up and down.

There was so much going on in the background of this image it looked like a van Brueghel oil painting - it was very busy but without the old master's skilled composition. I found that if I cropped in from the sides it focused more attention on the main subjects. The exact crop was determined by my desire not to cut any birds in the near background. This has resulted in a 'squarish' crop but I am open to suggestions on alternatives. I also lowered the brightness of the background and this seemed to help. The capture was made at Sandy Bay beach, Macquarie Is, Australian sub-Antarctic on 5 January 2014.

Canon 5DIII + 300 mm f/2.8L II + 2x III extender, 600EX-RT with Better Beamer, Gitzo 3532LS, Kirkphoto King Cobra gimbal.
Manual, f/9, 1/200 sec, ISO 100, 1/8 flash power.
Processed in DPP: adjust WB, brightness, shad/h'lights, saturation, sharpen, RAW-TIFF. PS Elements: select birds, background NR to reduce file size, reduce brightness of background, rotate a little, crop, downsize, output sharpen.

Thanks for looking, critical feedback welcome.

[Marina Scarr]

This is one heck of a frame, Ian. First of all, thanks for including the description of this amazing behavior. The behavior of the front males and your use of flash really works to set this image up, and what a great story it tells.

[Joe Galkowski]

Great nature story here. This is a challenging picture to make but you handled expertly. The two main subjects really look like they are saying, "I'm bigger than you!"

I wonder if you couldn't drop the contrast, brightness, and saturation a bit more on the bird in the BG to the right of the two males? It might help the main subjects stand out, so to speak, a bit more.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Nice work Ian... love the image and your description explaining the image.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I'm really liking the background birds as it seems to depict a party already started with the two main subjects arriving fashionably late. Good techs, details, comp.

[Karl Egressy]

Great story and excellent image, Ian.

[Carl Walker]

Great behavioural shot. The subjects stand out really well here. Good work.

[William Dickson]

Well done Ian, don't know which I like best. The BG or the subjects Both are fantastic. Well done

[Binu John]

Wonderful story and great shot of their behavior, Ian! Very nice composition and brilliant use of flash! Well done!

[Ian Wilson]

Thanks everyone for kind comments on this image - your encouragement much appreciated. Regards, Ian.