Singing the BLUEs ...

[Arthur Morris]

Atlantic Puffin with sand eels for chick

This image was created on July 8, 2018 on the UK Puffin and Gannets IPT. I used the Induro GIT 304L/Mongoose M3.6-mounted Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 600mm f/4E FL ED VR lens, the Nikon AF-S Teleconverter TC-17E II, and my souped up (9 fps) mega mega-pixel Nikon D850 DSLR.. ISO 400. Matrix metering +2/3 stop: 1/800 sec. at f/6.7 in Manual mode. AUTO1 WB at 10:43am on a typical and wonderful cloudy-bright morning. Three up and one to the right of the center AF point/d-9/Shutter Button/Continuous (AI Servo in Canon) AF was active at the moment of exposure. The selected AF point was squarely on the orange rosette at the base of the puffin’s bill. Phase detection AF Fine-tune value: +1. See the Nikon AF Fine-tune e-Guide here.

To learn a variety of techniques that you can use to tweak your BLUEs or to learn about joining my 2019 trip, click here to access see the Singing the BLUEs blog post. E-mail for BPN member IPT discount info.

As for the image, don't be shy; all comments and suggestions are welcome.

with love, artie

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the slight head turn, exposure, sharpness, beak full of eels and composition. I see the membrane on the eye a little bit. Wish I had an image like this in my files!

[Joseph Przybyla]

Looks good to me, I don't know how you could improve the image. Love the fish lined up in the bill. If I didn't know better I would say you lined them up with most of the eyes showing. Thank you for sharing, Artie.

[John Mack]

Solid portrait. Nice how you caught all the eyes facing this way. Great background. Details look good.

[Tim Foltz]

Artie, the eyes have it… veery nice image of one of my favorite birds. Colors look spot on as well as exposure and nice details.
The only thing is I wish they were here in So. CA.

-Tim

[Daniel Cadieux]

As a fan of close up portraits, this one gets my attention in a great way. I love how the yellow gape wraps a round the fish. Fantastic details too.

[Isaac Grant]

Nice close portrait with good details. The birds face somehow shows emotion that I really like. It almost looks sad to me. On my screen the whites of the chest and belly and the blacks of the back as well all have a slight blue cast. Just from a reflection off of the water or what?

[Robert Kimbrell]

Hey Artie. Beautiful sharp image. I like the close up. The fish did seem to fall in a good position. Exposure is spot on to my eye. I first viewed this image on my phone and was impressed the details.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Very nicely exposed, there is a slight blue cast in the plumage and fish, I have taken the liberty of removing it also lifted the darkest plumage a tiny weeny bit- WDYT?

[William Dickson]

Beautiful image. The classic Puffin pose at its best. Well done Artie.

Will

[Walker Noe]

Very nice Artie, the 600 + 1.7 does great work. . .

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Artie, excellent exposure on the plumage, tack sharp, and love seeing his meal dangling from his beak. Gotta love the colours on their faces.

[Arthur Morris]

Very nice Artie, the 600 + 1.7 does great work. . .

Thanks Walker. I have a lot more confidence with the TC-E17 II than I do with the TC-E20 III. I had great confidence when I used my Canon 2X III with my big Canon glass ...

with love, artie

ps: I would love to see a TC-E17 III.

[Arthur Morris]

Very nicely exposed, there is a slight blue cast in the plumage and fish, I have taken the liberty of removing it also lifted the darkest plumage a tiny weeny bit- WDYT?

Thanks Jon, I like them both :)

with love, artie

[Arthur Morris]

Nice close portrait with good details. The birds face somehow shows emotion that I really like. It almost looks sad to me. On my screen the whites of the chest and belly and the blacks of the back as well all have a slight blue cast. Just from a reflection off of the water or what?

Thanks Isaac. You are correct. There is a BLUE cast to the WHITEs. With the soft light, it is difficult to see that parts of the breast are sunlit, parts are in shadow. As expected, the WHITEs in shadow show more of a BLUE cast (15- 20 RGB points) than the sunlit WHIITEs (5-8 RGB points). BLUE in the shadowed areas rarely bug me unless they are quite excessive.

with love, arite