Chick on a Pillow?

[Arthur Morris]

Some of the principles that I tried to get across while co-leading a recent Gannets Galore trip with Chris Dodds had to do with dealing with the bright sun and blue skies that we had on day 2. When the light is bright, think tight. Even better, find a pleasing subject in the shade. Here, I did both!

This Northern Gannet chick was on its nest in the shade of one of the shelters. It was photographed with the Canon 70-200mm f/4L IS lens handheld at 200mm with the EOS-1D MIII. Flash on camera fill at -1 stop. ISO 200. Evaluative metering +1 stop set manually: 1/250 sec. at f/5.6.

While doing a Photoshop session with the small group, I chose to convert this image in ACR rather than Breezebrowser as I usually do. I was playing around with the clarity slider and discovered that I could add to the sharp on soft look by decreasing the clarity. You gotta love digital; play around and come up with something new.

Don't be shy; all comments welcome.

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Wow Atrtie this is a very beautiful image and love how the focus is directed to the eyes . They certainly look like they have a story to tell and I also like how the beak and surrounding feathers just seem to fade out as your eye follows the image to the edges. Probably one of my all time favorites. I love it.

[Raul Quinones]

Great shot, love the DOF and the eyes on this one.
Thanks for the specs and info, hopefully it will remember next time I go out.

[Tom Charles]

Incredible detail and clarity on those eyes. It looks like a face all wrapped up in cotton wool! lol Also, I like the selective focus control. Beautifully exposed image.

Tom

[Linda Robbins]

Love the detail and sharpness of the eyes and face of this chick, and th fluffy plumage certainly sets it off. Perfect exposure and technique as always!
Lovely image...

________________

Linda

[Grace Scalzo]

You are so generous with sharing your techniques. I really appreciate your creative approach, sweet title completes this work.

[Bob Blanchard]

Oh man I love this one! It draws you in perfectly. You go right to the eyes, and then back out to appreciate the setting. The direction of the chicks eyes really add to it IMO.

[Philippe Collard]

You know Artie I was on Bonaventure three weeks ago. The sun was blasting so hard I just kept a few barely useable pictures just for the sake of it. While there I was thinking... Jee I wander what Arthur Morris will come up with if he has the same lighting conditions when leading his tour. This is almost impossible! And here you are, with another marvel of an image. Plus I have to say that in real life these Gannet chicks are horrible so double hats off :)

Congrats for your constant re-invention of bird photography, I *love* this image!

[Axel Hildebrandt]

This looks quite unique. The fluff and eyes make this one for me.

[Ramon M. Casares]

Moving shot... very touching look, just wonderfull. Congratulations!!

[Glenda Simmons]

I love the picture, as it...but since I'm still trying to grasp basic skills...what f-stop and/or other settings would you have to use at this close distance to get the bird's beak focused, better? And then what would that do to the rest of the picture? Thanks!

[Arthur Morris]

You know Artie I was on Bonaventure three weeks ago. The sun was blasting so hard I just kept a few barely useable pictures just for the sake of it. While there I was thinking... Jee I wander what Arthur Morris will come up with if he has the same lighting conditions when leading his tour. This is almost impossible! And here you are, with another marvel of an image. Plus I have to say that in real life these Gannet chicks are horrible so double hats off :) Congrats for your constant re-invention of bird photography, I *love* this image!

Hi Phillipe, Thanks for all of your wonderful comments above. You put an extra large smile on my face this morning. I am proud of my approach. Whenever folks state or imply that conditions really suck or that it is simply impossible to make a good image, that really drives me to think out of the box and inspires me to come up with something great. And yes, most of the gannet chicks are U-G-L-Y! The chick is to find one with a clean face.

I will share another blue-sky too sunny image or two with the group here before I head to Katmai on 2 SEPT for bears.

[Kaushik Balakumar]

Artie, I love this image. Very creative & different. Love that selective DOF & sharpness in the eyes (and around).
I also find this different from ur other images.

[Harold Davis]

i'm not saying this just cause what you said about mine yesterday, BUT this is one of my favorites of yours!!! love the pose and the reflection in the eye is just phenomenal!!! big congrats on this one!! and way to make lemonade out of lemons!!

it must have been a good week!!

[Arthur Morris]

Jeez oh man. And to think that I only said what I did in order to get you to say something nice about one of my images. :) :D :)

[Dave Phillips]

this is one of my most fav images ever here on BPN....the clarity and depth in the eyes is awesome and esp like the fine detail of the white fluff up top

[Juan Aragonés]

Terrific, the thumbnail doesn´t make justice to this image. Very good eye Artie to see such a good image on the face of this little guy. In the eyes of the chick I can see part of the surroundings like the blue sky and some kind of yellowish rocks? and I think that working a little more on the eyes could add more impact to the image. I selected the eyes with a mask and worked on the levels and added a little touch of saturation.

BTW, I decided to follow your sugestion about adding more room at the top af my flamingo ;)

PS. Oh my god, I never realized that some day I would made a comment on the landscape reflected on the eyes of a young gannet :eek::eek::eek: :D

[Marko Matesic]

got to love those eyes :))...fantastic shot....very different!

[Arthur Morris]

Hey Juan, Thanks. The eyes do look better. The yellow is the shelter. You gotta love the detail we get from good digital cameras.