Puffin

[gail bisson]

Another puffin image from Iceland July 2016.
I learned a few things about photographing puffins:
1. They are smaller in real life than I thought.
1a. They are cuter IRL too!
2. They fly like bullets.
3. It is almost impossible to find them on a poop free area
4.The BG is often boring grey sky.
5.If the sun is out, they are an exposure nightmare.
So the reason I like this image is because of the minimal poop and the great BG!
ISO 1600 SS 1/1250 F 7.1
Canon 1 DX 600 mm and 1.4 x
PP : Crop to 70% FF, usual sliders in LR6 and I increased the color balance on this image slightly, In PS I did levels,NR to BG, decreased magenta by -1 and USM to JPEG. I burned the little areas of bird poo.Nothing cloned or added.
Comments and critiques always appreciated and learned from with thanks,
Gail

[Bill Dix]

Great puffin image, Gail. You can never have too many Puffins. Good analysis of Puffin Photography. This solves all of those issues. Love the bg and the perch, and the open-beak pose.

[Geoffrey Montagu]

Wonderful image, Gail. Great light bringing out good detail in the feathers. Like his calling pose. How lucky you were to get such a nice BG, and a relatively low guano covered perch. I might crop in a bit on the RHS.

All of your observations are spot on regarding photographing these birds.

Geoffrey




http://500px.com/geoffreymontagu

[Bill Nuttall]

It is a beautiful image and capture Gail ........ cannot find any nits

I suppose under a powerful microscope you may be able to add a little more contrast to the breast .. but you would be the only one who would notice any difference

[keith mitchell]

Gail you would have a job to get it much better,in my opinion it all works very well,sounds like your Puffin learning course was well worth it.

Keith.

[Satish Ranadive]

Excellent image. Nice information.


Regards,
Satish.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Gail, lovely angled pose with the open beak, and captured in soft light too. Excellent exposure all round, tack sharp, and the OOF BG rounds the image off nicely. Minimal poop fine with me.

[John Whaley]

I(t is a beautiful image Gail. Everything working here. The green leaves are a bonus.

[Doug Brown]

Like the expression and the nice detail. Overcast skies really do help tame the exposure.

[David Salem]

The lighting is about right and the Bg is about perfect. Love the pose and the nice feather details too. The rock with the greens and the nice comp round this one off really well. A real solid Puffin frame Gail.