I only have eyes for you

[William Dickson]

Canon 7D Mk2
f/4 500mm with 1x4iii
f/6.3
1/1000
ISO 500

I captured this pair of mating fulmars on a ruined castle 5 mins from my house. I would have liked to get more of the birds in the frame, but they never moved from the small opening on the castle wall. I cropped, to show the emotion of 'love' on the faces of the two birds

Thanks for looking

Will

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi William, I quite like the intimate pose & overall composition of the heads, and having a darkish BKG helps to give some standout to the 'courting' couple.

However, I am really surprised at the 'noise' within the image, also highlighted where you have masked with the NR layer. Have you used something like Shadow/Highlights to recover certain dark/shadow areas? With that kit & low ISO it should be a lot crisper IMHO. I also feel, although never shot with this camera, you could up the SS and DoF and used perhaps 100-1600 ISO based on some previous postings with this camera.

Good to see you out & about, albeit dogging the rain perhaps????

TFS
Steve

[David Cowling]

William. Not experienced enough to see the problems that Steve does but I bow to his far superior knowledge. I see a super image with lots of intimacy between the two birds, nicely exposed with good feather detail. If it were mine I might have tried to do something with the eye on the front bird. I find the pinprick of light a little distracting and think that you could perhaps select the eye and bring out a little more detail. Very well seen and thanks for sharing.

[William Dickson]

Thanks for the comments guys.

Steve, still trying to get to grips with this camera, I took a few shots on different settings, I will address the issues you commented on. I did use the shawdows/highlights as you mentioned. Maybe too much

Well, I hope the rain clears quickly as I am off to Mull on Tuesday

Will

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi William, just keep checking that Histogram/Exp that is your best friend. Don't be afraid of cranking up the ISO, the guys here in Avian have proved just how good these cameras are, so use it along with a good SS etc. A good, evenly exposed image is key and have the 'blinks' enabled, you can then see any potential blown/clipped whites. IMHO the S/H is for those who haven't really got a good grasp of PP, Will you can expand on that more with your skills within DPP & PS, explore more the Exposure sliders. Don't get me wrong, it's OK when used correctly and at the right time, but with a 'feather' touch, like any tool, it's powerful one and you need to adjust those default setting accordingly. I'm sure Arash has some pointers in his PDF you have working in DPP to aid your PP in this area?

You also need to check your masking as bits are missed , but again you have come such a long way, well done.
Good luck on Mull, trust you booked an early crossing to make the most of things. have a beer on me in Tobermory

[John Robinson]

Hi Will
Well after lookig at this as posted it looks like a very pleasing mage . With some strong anthropomorphic over tones I might add. If yo want to start pix - all blow ups show problems and if you want to ,youwill find them.
John

[Ed Kelly]

Something different here,and I like it. Very intimate, missed a few spots with your NR,but the image is wonderful.

Ed

[Gerald Kelberg]

Hey Will,

Just to join the chorus here - I really like the image and the perception of intimacy between the Fulmars - but I suspect this is quite a big crop as the image quality isn't up where you have been getting it of late.

Have a great trip!

Gerald

[christopher galeski]

like the intimate pose,William,agree on points made about noise,enjoy Mull,and keep out of the Fishnish in TobermoryTFS.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Very intimate portrait with two good head angles. Well composed and exposed. The dark BG really sets that pair off nicely. I too am surprised with the amount of noise - looks like the effect of big crop, NR + aggressive sharpening to me.

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the interaction, dark BG and composition. The noise is really noticeable as mentioned. I recently downloaded the new DPP version and tried it with good results. If you didn't use DPP give it a try on this image.

[Karl Egressy]

Great intimate pose captured nicely, William.

[arash_hazeghi]

interaction is great but unfortunately the poor IQ doesn't make this a keeper in my book...it looks like it was taken with an iphone