Snow Petrel

[Tony Whitehead]

Had an amazing session with Snow Petrels this last February in Crystal Sound, Antarctica. We were lucky to have a calm spell with the birds approaching unusually close to the ship. This one had just dipped down and captured a Krill. This amazing experience that I was lucky to share with my daughter, Edin, was the subject of my blog post this week.
Nikon D810, Nikon 200-400 f4, ISO 400 1/2500s f7.1, manual exposure, HH
Comments and suggestion appreciated as always.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Tony, I like the raised wing position, which in turn shows off the feather detail nicely. The whites stand out nicely against the deep blue water, and what a clear reflection too. I do like the show of the splashes from where the Petrel has 'bounced' across the water. Well captured.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Very nice action here, and the wings up position is really good. The backlighting worked well in this case. Bonus to have such a clear reflection to go with that action! I would have preferred a bit more room below for the wing tip. Awesome to see you active on BPN again :-)

[Arthur Morris]

Quite stunning. You did really well with the difficult backlit situation. The splashes put it over the top. a

[Mike Poole]

Very impressive shot, with the splashes and the superb reflection. Not easy light to have shot in, so well controlled tech wise.

I agree with Dan about a little more room below, easy fix if you're so inclined

Mike

[dankearl]

I wish you had a better angle but realize not possible, but the shot is so good, lower would have put it over the top...

[Warren Spreng]

Appears to be running over liquid glass! Love the splashes, what a great catch!

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Fantastic shot and you made the best considering the lighting conditions available. As mentioned by Dan, a lower POV would have been a mega killer. But it is understandable that you were probability not able to get to the water level being on a ship.

[Tony Whitehead]

Thanks for the comments everyone. A lower POV was not possible being restricted to the lowest point on the ship. In this case it would have brought floating ice chunks into the BG too so was just lucky to get a clean flat patch of sea.

[Tony Whitehead]

Awesome to see you active on BPN again :-)

Thanks, Dan. It's been a torrid few years with work but starting to think there may be some light at the end of the tunnel