Theme - Smell the Flowers

[William Dickson]

Canon 1DX
f/4 500mm with 1.4
f/9
1/1600
ISO 800

I have just returned from a great 7 days on the Isle of Mull, on the west coast of Scotland. I captured this Puffin on the small island of Staffa, which is a short boat trip from Mull. If you get the opportunity to visit these islands I can highly recommend it. The weather was very changeable, bright and sunny, then rain and mist on most days. But, what a great experience, and have already booked a cottage for next year.

Will

[Bill Dix]

Great moment captured; lovely image. Good choice of aperture. I enjoyed my few days with these wonderful birds in Iceland earlier this year; a week on Mull sounds like a great way to spend a vacation.

[William Dickson]

Thanks for that Bill. When we were in the boat going towards the island, the skipper told me where to go to photograph them, but not to worry, if none were there, as the Puffins would be all at sea. When the Puffins see you on top of the cliff, they will fly onto the cliff, as they seem to know that with the presence of humans, the Skuas and Gulls would be afraid to come near. And sure enough, that is exactly what happened. Most where in the stage of lining their burrows with nesting material.

Will

[Alex Becker]

Hi Will, really lovely frame. Great techs and I love the flowers and how we can still make eye contact with the low POV. Composition and BG are nice too. I could see some of the brightest highlights toned down just a tad on some of the flowers but I think thats just personal preference. Glad the trip went well. TFS,

[Jonathan Ashton]

Will I have been there several times - to Mull and Staffa I just love it. The image is very eye catching and I like it. I have a slight reservation over the appearance and I am not sure exactly what it is but I get the impression perhaps it is just a little over sharpened or perhaps too much Clarity, I suspect the lighting conditions would explain a lot. WDYT?

[Daniel Cadieux]

What a beautiful scene! Nice and intimate. The flowers certainly do add a lot of interesting elements. Either the overall exposure, or midtones, could be lowered a tad IMO. Looks like you may have had a FG element slightly hazing the lower parts of the frame? Really nicely done overall.

[William Dickson]

Thanks for the comments guys. Hi Jon. Maybe over exposed a tad, as Dan said. I never sharpened the image much, didn't need it. Maybe the lighting conditions? I have attached the original. Hi Dan, I cannot recall any elements, I took the shot portrait, as you can see from the attached original. It looks like some FG element on the original, bottom left, but changed my thoughts on the crop.


Will

[arash_hazeghi]

pretty cool frame William, like the flowers and the pose. Good details. I would put more space around him

TFS

[William Dickson]

pretty cool frame William, like the flowers and the pose. Good details. I would put more space around him

TFS

Thanks for that Arash, much appreciated.