How many eyes?

[gail bisson]

I spent a terrific 10 days in Iceland. What a great place! Actually ran into Bill Dix and Geoffrey Montagu on the ferry. Wonderful to meet you guys!
We had a fair bit of rain but managed 3 days of glorious weather. If you plan a trip to Iceland I would recommend staying an extra day in every spot to allow for the weather.
This is the "classic" portrait puffin with fish that is often seen and posted but it is "MY" classic portrait!! I like the lone shrimp amongst the other fish.
Canon 1DX
600mm and 2X convertor.
taken at ~ 7:00PM in the evening.
95% FF.
ISO 1000 F 10 SS 1/1250
Minimal PP: Cropped, cloned out 1 dust spot in LUC.
Usual sliders in LR 6 including clarity +8 saturation +4, levels in PS5 and DE in NIK at 1%. Sharped JPEG with USM at 25% radius 0.3

[Randy Stout]

Gail:

I would be proud of this one too! The shrimp really adds some extra interest! I love the forms/texture in the bill as well.

I might be tempted to do just a bit of darkening of the pupil to make it stand out a bit more from the reflection.

Well framed.


Cheers

Randy

[Joseph Przybyla]

I am up to seven on the eyes... lovely image. Outstanding portrait with the bird, fish, and shrimp. Nice detail, HA, and background. I do not know the bird well so take this for what it is worth... if the area around the eye as it merges with the black is supposed to be white, then the white is greying. Thank you for sharing, Gail.

[gail bisson]

I am up to seven on the eyes... lovely image. Outstanding portrait with the bird, fish, and shrimp. Nice detail, HA, and background. I do not know the bird well so take this for what it is worth... if the area around the eye as it merges with the black is supposed to be white, then the white is greying. Thank you for sharing, Gail.

Hi Joe,
The area is indeed greyish in real life.
Randy- I think that is an excellent suggestion and I am going back to the file "tout de suite". Thanks,
Gail

[Jonathan Ashton]

Beautiful colours and details, it can be tempting to over saturate some colours but I like these.

[keith mitchell]

Gail how did it manage to keep the shrimp then fill it's beak with all those small fish? something that always puzzles me.Anyway back to this smashing Puffin portrait the colours look spot on to me and you have some excellent feather detail,very nice indeed.

Keith.

[Bill Dix]

Hi Gail. Great job on this classic portrait. Terrific detail and exposure, and fish. The shrimp got the place of honor in that orange spot. And I love that blue color in the bg. What fun to run into you on the ferry, and to finally connect a face to the name. Sounds like your trip was as rewarding as ours. Yes, Iceland is a magical place, and good advice to add some extra days. We were pretty lucky with the weather, but did some shooting in the rain, and in some howling winds on top of the cliff. I wish I had an answer to Keith's question, which has bugged me as well.

[Jim Crosswell]

Excellent image Gail. I like the pose, IQ, details, BG and composition. I counted 9 visible eyes.

[Glennie Passier]

A classic portrait indeed. They are such curious looking birds. Love the odd shrimp out. The colours and detail of the feathers and bill is amazing. I reckon he would be carrying close to 12 fish/shrimp.

[David Salem]

There's one of the shots checked off the list that you go to Iceland for. Very nice color and details and I really like the ocean color too. The textures of the beak and face are awesome and it looks like f10 covered everything well. Great looking portrait Gail. I count 11 eyes including the Puffins. Look forward to more from your trip.

[arash_hazeghi]

love the head shot with the assortment of the fish and shrimp, quite a seafood platter. Everything is well done, colors look touch muted on my screen you may want to touch it up a tad

[stuart wanuck]

Another winner great details

[John Hackney]

Fantastic portrait. Great detail and color. I see eleven eyes including the Puffin's.

[Geoffrey Montagu]

Good morning, Gail. What a striking portrait, and to have captured the shrimp with the fish is indeed "YOUR" classic portrait. Great detail and spot on exposure. Just great fun running into you on the ferry. Wonderful to meet you as well.
I also agree with your advice on extending your stay at least an extra day at each location.

Geoffrey

[annmpacheco]

Hi Gail, what a beauty you captured! The exposure is right on, and the colors are accurate and i believe don't need to be more saturated... I count eleven eyes as well. I really like the shrimp and the eye has a wonderful catchlight and reflection. looking forward to more!

[Glenn Conlan]

You have captured the essence of amazing nature's design. Well done Gail!