Fulmars - courtship

[Jonathan Ashton]

Hand held Canon 1DX Canon 100-4000L IS 11 Auto ISO 500, 1/1000 sec f7.1.
Clearly early season - note the clean grass, just one splodge at the back of the nesting area. All C&C welcome

[Randy Stout]

Jon:

Looks like they are arguing already! Nice exposure on the whites. The darker cavity behind the head gives good separation from the brown grass.

How is it to hand hold a "100-4000L" lens? You must have been lifting a lot of weights to prepare for that

Cheers

Randy

[Marina Scarr]

Love the interaction and all the elements of environment portrayed here. I am curious as to why you chose auto ISO here and only 1/1000sec when you were hand holding and could have witnessed more action?

[Jonathan Ashton]

The lens is easy peasy to hold Randy (I do weight train actually).
Marina I decided 1/1000 sec would capture the action and went for 7.1 on a whim, as mentioned previously the ISO would be auto and produce a satisfactory image so I wasn't concerned about that aspect.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Jon - Interesting behavioral image. Dof works well and I agree with Randy that the darker area allowed for good separation. Like Randy, I also wondered where one can buy a "100-4000" and if it is much heavier/longer.

TFS,
Rachel

[Jonathan Ashton]

Rachel these lenses are scarce in fact there's only one in the UK, that's mine.......and I am not sure if there any more available

[William Dickson]

Love it and I love photographing these birds. You captured the scene well Jon. Great interaction. Great work

Will

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Uhm... It would actually be II not 11. The II stands for 2 in the Roman numeral system.

I cannot comment on Auto ISO, except that I always shoot in manual mode now and set the exposure accordingly. If I feel like being "creative" I'll change the settings, but will always aim for as fast a shutter speed as I can possibly get.

Lovely frame mate, I like the interaction and the gentle lighting. I think it would also work well as a pano you know?

Thanks for sharing.

[keith mitchell]

Great interaction Jonathan, looks like the start of a real domestic.

Keith.