3,000

[Arthur Morris]

I am invoking owner's privilege here by make my 3,000th post a bit early. :) This sky-pointing Northern Gannet was photographed on my recent trip to Bonaventure Island near Perce, Quebec with the 400mm f/4 IS DO lens, the 1.4X II TC, and the EOS-1D MIII. ISO 400. Evaluative metering + 1 2/3 stops off the sky set manually: 1/500 sec. at f/8. Mongoose M3.5. Fill flash with Better Beamer at -1 stop.

All comments welcome; don't be shy. Off to the next 3,000...

ps: Quiz: all things being equal, why should I have moved one half inch to my right???

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Congratulations on the milestone and the upward direction of the bill points toward the next 3000 posts. :)

I like the pose and exposure control, as for the half inch, I would say to have both eyes equally lit.

[Dan Brown]

Congrats on 3000th! Cool angle!

Quiz - to put you exactly centered with birds bill and eyes?

[Doug Brown]

Congrats Artie on 3000! Your gannet stuff has been particularly good! I think Axel and Dan answered your question.

[Diane Chenault]

That's a beautiful image Arthur. I believe if you moved 1/2 inch to the right the bird's beak would have been level with the film plane.

[Stephen Stephen]

Very nice Artie. I think that a move to the right would have done both: bill level with the sensor plane and both eyes would be even.

[Dave Phillips]

love love love this image...might lighten each eye just a tad to keep them from being same gray/white as bottom of bill

[David Billingsley]

Great shot - I love all the Gannet photos you have posted from your recent trip. Rather than moving your rig 1/2" to the right, the Gannet should have cooperated and moved 1/2" to it's right.

Again - love your new Gannet shots - dave b.

[Arthur Morris]

Great shot - I love all the Gannet photos you have posted from your recent trip. Rather than moving your rig 1/2" to the right, the Gannet should have cooperated and moved 1/2" to it's right. Again - love your new Gannet shots - dave b.

Thanks Dave! Actually, everyone has pretty much gotten the right idea but moving would not have helped at all as the birds (as this one did) rotate their necks slowly when displaying. I tried to time it perfectly, but... PDC, pretty darned close.

[Sharna Lee]

Beautiful image Arthur. I really love your gannat series a lot. The bird is so colorful and the lighting you got is just perfect.
Thanks for sharing. I love studying everyone's work and trying to incorporate it into my own photographs.
You have done great in the series so far. Congrats on the 3,000th post.
Sharna

[Katie Rupp]

Great shot - I love all the Gannet photos you have posted from your recent trip. Rather than moving your rig 1/2" to the right, the Gannet should have cooperated and moved 1/2" to it's right.

Again - love your new Gannet shots - dave b.

This reply is too funny;)I also love your new Gannet shots and Congrats and Thank You for BPN. (is that a dust spot to the left of the bill?)

[Brian Wong]

Hi Artie!

Congratulations on your 3000! and this is another beautiful post.

I love it as is ... but "if all things being equal" and if your intent is for complete symmetry ... then I am looking at the outline of the mandible/bill ... and it is really PDC!!! ... so maybe another 1/2 inch and the black outline of the upper mandible (maxilla) would be complete on both sides giving perfect symmetry. Image has a very appealing graphic quality.

Congratulations again, and thanks for sharing all your knowledge and experiences!

[Fabs Forns]

Big congratulations, Maestro :)

My guess is to get both eye in symmetry, the on to my right is a little off.

I'm loving the light in Bonaventure, we should get blue ocean for BG in Cape St. Mary IF the fog lifts.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Hi Artie,
This is a striking image. Very well composed. I am wondering how the image would have looked with an increase in depth of field. The expert use of fill flash has made all the difference. Thanks for sharing.

[Haim Ziv]

Absolutely amazing!!

[Ken Watkins]

Can I be as bold to ask which of the 3,0000 you consider to be best. This is stunning!

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Ken, The 3,000+ posts includes all the critiquing and other comments that I have made here on BPN. I have posted a bit more than 100 images here and I like all of them. One of my very recent favorites was the one of the gannets passing the nesting material. Way to hard to pick any all time favorites... Best to check out the Bulletin Archives and pick your favorite! All of my good new pix are in the Bulletins.