Here's Looking At You Kid! (Puffin Portrait)

[Ed Vatza]

From this past Thursday on Machias Seal Island of the coast of Maine. Conditions were overcast and foggy.

Image made using a 30D and 400mm f/5.6L lens handheld in a small blind.

1/2500 sec at f/8; ISO 800; -1/3 EV

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Very nice portrait, Ed! I like the details and soft light. The overcast sky might have made exposing it properly easier. These bills are amazing.

[Arthur Morris]

Unusual to find a green BKGR on Machias. Who did you go with? Has everyone heard that John Norton died of lung cancer just the other day?

Nice job on the exposure. The bird's eye is rotated well back in the head. Lightening the iris and darkening the pupil would at least make the eye more visible.

[John Chardine]

I like the colour saturation here and you have controlled the whites and blacks well (thank goodness for a foggy day). The only downside for me is the "look down" angle to the bird. BTW, this is a fairly young puffin- notice the grooves in the bill (not counting the one immediately distal to the cream line). This bird has 1 and 1/2-3/4 grooves which makes it maybe a 3-4 year old, just getting ready to breed. A good adult will have 2 or more full grooves.

[Stephen Stephen]

Ed I'm still hoping to create some puffin images some day. This one has a sad look about it but it's still a very nice portrait.

[Ed Vatza]

Axel, Artie, John, Stephen,

Thanks for the comments, feedback, information and tips. Always much appreciated.

Axel, I think the overcast helped but that black/white combination was still very difficult for me to master. I have my share of overexposed whites and underexposed blacks as well. :(

Artie, I went out with Captain Andy Patterson of Bold Coast Charters out of Cutler, Maine. Capt. Andy is a really good guy and runs a first class operation. I was told that Andy has picked up Norton's landing permits so he seems to be going out almost every day now. Out in Blind #4 where we were, there was a little greenery which provided a counterpoint to all the whitewashed rocks.

John, thanks for run down on aging the puffins. Maybe this guys looks sad because he hasn't found a woman yet! ;)

Stephen, I selected this one from among a number of close-ups that I have because of the expression. I thought it was cool to see what looks like emotion in the bird's face.

[Grady Weed]

Ed, I wholeheartedly agree with you on the emotional appeal of the expression here. That is why I like this over the shoulder puffin shot. I jump for joy when I we get overcast skies on Machias Seal Island. The murres, razorbills, terns and puffins all come out so much better. Keep working them. If nothing else, you see what most will never see, an exquisite creature of the greatest proportions from our creator, the puffins!