Puffin

[nick clayton]

Farne Islands, Northumberland, UK. 28/06/15

Canon EOS 7D Mark II
Canon EF 600mm f4 II USM Lens
Gitzo 3532 LS carbon fiber tripod
Wimberley Head Mk II

1/400 @ f10
+1/3 EV
Aperture priority
ISO 400
Pattern

RAW converted in Canon DPP

Cloned distraction bottom left
Levels
Saturation
Selective Color
White point and Black point colour correction
Nik Software - Dfine 2.0 noise reduction - background only. Color Efex Pro 4 - Tonal Contrast - subject only, Detail Extractor - Highlight areas only.
Photoshop USM

[William Dickson]

Lovely portrait Nick. The detail is outstanding. The mouthful of fish, and the detail on the fish takes this up a notch. Nice control of the blacks/whites. Don't know if I like the part perch in the frame or not. Overall a very pleasing image. Great work.

Will

[John Robinson]

Nice one Nick . Good to see a good old yeller belly posting !! Agree about the perch.-could go maybe.
Cheers
John
PS Does Tom Dennis still have the camera shop in Lincoln ?

[keith mitchell]

Hi Nick, nice to see you posting. You have got some superb detail and quality in this image.

Keith.

[Michael Hansen]

Stunning photo! As others have said, the detail is outstanding. Great capture!


Mike

[David Salem]

Killer close-up!! Love the details in the feathers and the little fish.

[Karen Pleasant]

Stunning fine details and clarity!!!!! I agree with losing the perch....but hey, an exquisite image!

[stuart wanuck]

Nicely done great detail

[adrian dancy]

Simply superb in all departments Nick.

[Bill Dix]

Exquisite detail! Ditch the perch.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Wonderful portrait mate! Love the fish in the bill and you have some great details in the plumage.
Personally, I'd be shooting in full manual mode to ensure my exposures are consistent with the birds
especially if the light is fairly steady and you have action, or flight, shots against varying backgrounds.
Av mode gets fooled easily in many cases.

Wish to photograph these stunning birds one day.

Thanks for sharing Nick!

[arash_hazeghi]

Excellent close up details Nick. love all the hanging fish and soft light too.

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Wow, that's quite a mouthful!
Lovely light, details and portrait.

[nick clayton]

Thanks for the comments, it’s very much appreciated. Please see the attached image with the perch removed as suggested by a few of you. Akos, I must admit I have got into the bad habit of using AV most of the time when manual is probably the way to go in most circumstances, having said that when I took this image the light wasn’t very consistent which therefore may have suited AV. John, I’m pretty sure Tom Dennis isn’t trading in Lincoln anymore.

[Matt Wright]

This capture is mental! love it.