The Offering

[Stu Bowie]

I visited Bird Island at Lamberts Bay, roughly 300km up the west coast from Cape Town. This location has one of the largest Gannet Colonies in the world. We stayed here for three days, so I had plenty of opportunities, early morning, and late afternoon to capture all sorts of images. This was taken early morning of two Cape Gannets sharing an 'offering' which looks like a piece of coral. When trying to select individuals from the surrounding masses of other Gannets, I have purposely blurred the BG in post processing to show up the two Gannets.

Canon 1D Mark IV
Canon 300mm F/2.8 +2X TC = 600mm
1/2000
F/8.0
ISO 400

Hand Held

[Arthur Morris]

As the gannets in the BKGR are nicely arranged they look pretty neat. The two shadows on the necks not so neat. Do you know what they were from; another bird? Sharp with a good EXP and interesting behavior.

with love, artie

[William Dickson]

Hi Stu. The Gannets in the BG make for a great BG. Beautiful details you have on the subjects. Great interaction and those eyes... Reminds me of the Bass Rock. Well done mate, looking good.

Will

[John Mack]

Nice interaction here. The vertical composition works very well. I like the tones and colors in the background.

[annmpacheco]

Love it Stu, and the BG really ties this together. Love the entwined beaks and the gorgeous baby blue eye rings. Lovely.

[gail bisson]

BG works!
I think the gannets needs to go a bit brighter and would selectively increase brightness or exposure.
Love the coral and the classic gannet courting position,
Gail

[Isaac Grant]

This is a very interesting photo. The birds make for a super nice background and love how they just fade away. I agree with Gail re the exposure of the front birds and would increase it a bit. I'm not a fan of the shadows on the birds necks.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Bud, great timing and perfect DoF, love the way the BKG Gannets provide an almost 'ghostly' backdrop, adds good context without being distracting. Nice warm light too and the kit combo worked well here. I can see an alternative with the Whites & Shadows being lifted slightly, but definitely the Blacks in the mouth to avoid clipping.

Great to see you back out into the field again.

TFS
Steve

[Stu Bowie]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I'm glad the BG turned out well enough.