White-capped Albatross

[gail bisson]

I am not usually a fan of images that are shot pointing down at a bird but for some reason I like this one.
These guys are scroungers and will fly to boats looking for treats and by-catch thrown over by the fishermen.
The white cap on the head is extremely shiny white and I took several images of this guy with a lower exposure I was unable to get any feather detail out of that area.If anyone has some suggestions for me I would appreciate it!
Canon 1DX
100-400mm II
ISO 500 SS 1/800 f 8
Almost full frame
Minimal processing using LR 5 sliders and USM to JPEG
Comments and critiques always appreciated and learned from with thanks,
Gail

[Isaac Grant]

Have to love getting the puppy dog eyes from an albatross!!! I agree with you Gail, I am not ever a fan of shots from this type of angle but this one works for sure. When you say lower exposure what exactly do you mean? Did you up the shutter speed, lower the ISO, increase the fstop? All of the above? I think when you have birds that are just crazy white you need to expose for that area and try your best to lift the rest in post. Major advantage of the full frame sensors. Dark blue water, a pied bird with an extra bright head is a sensors nightmare It seems the sun was to your right so maybe getting the same bird with the sun really low in the sky would've helped a bit to lessen the brightness of the cap?

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the eye contact. sharpness, view of the feet and the texture of the gray part of the beak looks like metal. Nice image Gail.

[greg cowle]

Gail, for me this works because we get a good view of the feet working underwater, not often we see that. Regarding the whites I am interested to follow the thread to see if you get some tips. I have not been this close to the white-capped albatross, but have been very close to the Campbell albatross which also has a white head, and causes similar problems. But my close-ups show very fine feathers on the head, which really don't have a lot of detail. Not an expert, but my sense is there is not much to get, it is as you say a shiny almost smooth white head. Optimization for dynamic soaring.
Greg

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Gail, I like the inquisitive pose as if he is waiting for scraps from you. Overall, the exposure looks good, as there is detail on the chest area, and the darks show up well too. I like the sharp detail of the huge beak, and lovely clear water to see the visible feet. I would try a version by moving the Albatross over to the RHS a touch. Hope you managed to catch up with Tony and Edin.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Hi Gail I like the shot I think it works because the exposure looks good. The head may have damp feathers and that coupled with the angle of light may well lead to an amorphous surface leaving little detail to be shown.

[gail bisson]

Have to love getting the puppy dog eyes from an albatross!!! I agree with you Gail, I am not ever a fan of shots from this type of angle but this one works for sure. When you say lower exposure what exactly do you mean? Did you up the shutter speed, lower the ISO, increase the fstop? All of the above? I think when you have birds that are just crazy white you need to expose for that area and try your best to lift the rest in post. Major advantage of the full frame sensors. Dark blue water, a pied bird with an extra bright head is a sensors nightmare It seems the sun was to your right so maybe getting the same bird with the sun really low in the sky would've helped a bit to lessen the brightness of the cap?

Hi Isaac,
I tried higher F-stop and higher SS but did not change ISO. I have pretty much the same image 1/3 and 2/3 stop darker and still no detail. I looked at some images that I had from another day that was foggy +++ and still no detail. I think one must need a perfect angle and cloudy conditions to get any detail from that area.