Hi Bill, Africa isn't enough obviously so you've had to head off the the Arctic as well (have been wondering why you weren't posting)! I guess someone has to do it. I like the 3 different poses on the birds and the unique perch. Colour looks like a good compromise with the hint of blue on the undersides and a slightly warm white on the tops of the birds. I might be inclined to back off the contrast a little and lift the overall exposure but not by much. Main issue in this one for me is depth of field. Hard to photograph from a bobbing zodiac, I'm sure but I think this would have benefited form stopping down a bit more as you had tons of light by the look and could have maintained a good shutter speed.
Hi Bill, one of my favourite locations to shoot in (Svalbard), but also one of the most polluted too.
Good low perspective here Bill, I guess you were resting on the rim of the rib for support. Techs look good too, as you need fast SS whilst on a rib due to movement. The three birds being in different posses adds interest and the ice is a 'cool' perch, although there is a truck load of detail you can extract from it which really adds. Hope you got a few more different encounters and not just Avian, but Wildlife too.
Hope you had a great time, I'll be back out there next year which will be, I think, my third or fourth trip for just over 16 days can't wait. Look forward to seeing more.
Thank you all. Yes, this would have benefited from stopping down several stops. I wish I had the skill to assess the situation and make necessary adjustments in just a split-second, since that's all I had as we cruised past this scene. Just a few clicks of the dial is all it would have taken. Here's a repost with just a little more sharpening and a little more detail in the whites.
I love what you have captured here Bill. The three kittiwakes look good with the three showing a different pose. Nice HA's as well. The FG and BG with the ice perch looks good, with a lovely POV. Good work getting all three in focus.
I was wondering where you were Bill. Glad to see you took another amazing trip. I think the interaction here is fun and I love the ice as a perch. The birds don't look tack sharp and also all of the whites on them are grayed over.
The repost addresses my initial concerns with only the far right bird being completely sharp.
Sometimes, you just gotta think ahead of the situation. I would be shooting ISO1600 without blinking an eye or even 3200 in these situations.
It's great, that you can see the benefit of quick thinking in the field.
Let's see some more Svalbard images. Looking forward to them Bill! :)