He went thataway!

[shane shacaluga]

From my recent visit to Fair Isle, this is a Northern Fulmar that was roosting and preening just above the ferry terminal

Nikon d800e
300f4 + 1.7x TC
f6.7
1/3200
ISO 640

Cropped for composition and usual PP techniques. USM on the subject after reducing size

Thanks for comments

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

Interesting pic and suitable title, Shane! I guess bright light was not your best friend here, with the whites on the body threatening to get out of control. Wonder if you can get a little more detail from the whites with lumo masks.

I wish more guys would place pics with 300mm/f4 + TC17 combo's so I can make up my mind whether it's worthwhile getting a TC17 for myself. I'm more than happy combining the 300mm/f4 with the TC14 at this stage (it might have worked a little better for you too considering you have 36Mpx to crop from).

Just for the record: I've learned not to open up the aperture beyond f7.1 (f8+ being ideal) on the 300mm/f4 because from my experience the quality is definitely degrading thereafter. It might have benefitted you here as well as - I believe - you've had enough ss to sacrifice for this stationary bird.

[Binu John]

Love the shot and the title. Lovely pose and excellent exposure of the whites. Well done!

[William Dickson]

Lovely shot of a fulmar, the feather detail in the wing is splendid, well done

[Satish Ranadive]

Excellent image in beautiful environment. Love the pose, 3D effect in the frame and title.

Regards,
Satish.

[Tom van den Brandt]

Very nice. I like the details in the wing and pose.

Tom

[Daniel Cadieux]

Fantastic details on that wing!! The face has a very gentle look to it, looks like a friendly bird. I think you did very well here, with perhaps just a touch warmer white balance as an option to consider.

[shane shacaluga]

Thanks a lot for the comments guys. It was fun to watch the fulmar's behaviour and interactions on the cliffs.

Tobie i kept the aperture wide open as I wanted the background rocks to be as soft as possible to bring out the bird. I am shooting wide open 90% of the time with this setup and find its more a case of nailing the focus than the IQ degrading. Sometimes the image needs a bit more sharpening than i would need with the bare lens but its something I can live with at the moment. That said, i will test a bit more and let you know how i progress.

Where would you like to see more details on the whites? IMO the whites are showing quite a bit of detail which you cannot see with a naked eye on fulmars.

Thanks for your comments

[Marina Scarr]

What a terrific image and title. The whites look pretty darn good to me with a lot of details and the pose is priceless. It appears to be sitting on a nest. THese birds are so hard just to find in the sky, so you were very lucky to photography one preening and what a interesting head it has. A very lovely looking bird.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Shane, I really like the overall exposure on the Fulmar, especially the outstretched near wing. I like the setting where the Fulmar has built his nest.

Before seeing your image, I had just recently processed a swallow shot with his wing outstretched 'showing the way'