Kittiwakes on ice

[Steve Kaluski]

More a grab shot than anything else as we scouted round the shore line in the zodiac looking for that big white bear. These birds would 'pepper' the small ice bergs waiting for anything to surface. HH on a moving zodiac can be challenging, but also good fun too, although 39km that afternoon was quite tiring and out in the open definitely layering up was key.

Steve

Subject: Kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla) two subjects on ice with shoreline rock face as backdrop
Location: Svalbard
Camera: Canon 1DX
Lens: 200-400f/4 HH at 360mm
Exposure: 1/2000s at f/6.3 ISO800
Original format: Landscape, slight crop
Processed: LR6 2015 & PS CC2015
Shot taken: 4.55pm

A couple of black specs (dirt) removed in the ice

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the exposure control, iceberg perch, details, sweet BG and good view of the webbed feet. Composition wise I would add a little to our left and take the same amount off our right but that is personal preference. Excellent image Steve!

[William Dickson]

Very nice Steve. That ice looks cold and the birds look beautiful. Great detail and colours throughout. Hope their webbed feet aint stuck to the ice . Great image and thanks for sharing.

Will

[Joseph Przybyla]

I agree with Will, the ice looks cold and the birds beautiful. Love the color palette, they all work so well together. Thanks for sharing, Steve.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I love the way they are perching on top of the ice with the bent feet arching over. Superb BG, I love its colour and texture. Although the ice looks super cool (literally too!) with the crinkling textures I do feel there is a bit much of it and a good chunk could be cropped out. Very subjective of course. Really nice overall, and it sure sounds like that was a fun outing!

[Steve Kaluski]

Thanks folks.

Jim, almost FF so I could only loose some off the RHS.

Dan, can you do a quick RP so I can get a feel for the crop, cheers.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Steve, excellent exposure on both the birds and the ice - good detail in the ice too. I like the angled poses from the Kittiwakes, together with the 'sweeping' OOF BG. Maybe a little off the RHS.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Hey Steve, this is what I had in mind:

[Steve Kaluski]

That's great Dan, all clear now and agree on the crop, almost RoT's, cheers.

Steve

[Satish Ranadive]

Magnificent image.

Regards,
Satish.

[Bill Dix]

Terrific image, especially considering the difficulty of shooting from a moving Zodiac. Great exposure control, nice bg and fg. I like Dan's repost, but would take a sliver off the right of it.

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Steve,

Perfectly well exposed and wonderful detail, lovely colours, sharpness, super IQ, the BG is awesome.

Love the little feet:)

I personally prefer the OP in terms of crop. Tempted to take off the top instead, maybe a tad from the R too, just for "balance" and because I just love the ice which I feel adds so much to the image. I could be wrong, still pondering over this, just my feeling as I compare the two versions.

Warmest regards,