From the Skiff

[Arthur Morris]

This Black-legged Kittiwake was photographed at a breeding colony on a small island just outside of Kukak Bay in Katmai on the recent bear boat trip. Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO lens handheld with the EOS-50D. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1/3 stop: 1/1600 sec. at f/7.1 set manually. There were 5 of us photographing from the 25 foot skiff that we used to get to and from the bears. Even though it was relatively calm, the boat was rocking and framing each image was a challenge.

[Morkel Erasmus]

getting it as sharp as this in a rocking skiff is testament to your skill.
is this full frame? I would be tempted to play around with rotating the bird so the wingtips run on a diagonal line from top left to bottom right.

[Arthur Morris]

Morkel, Thanks for your membership support! Above is the original capture. It is pretty much full frame as the canvas that was added pretty much replaced the stuff that was cropped.

ps; Note the blue cast in the ORIG.

[Morkel Erasmus]

a pleasure it is :)

new one definitely looks better, especially without the cast. I still want to see that bird rotated a bit though (looking at the original it will require a lot of canvas adding as well).

[Arthur Morris]

Which is the "new one," the one in the top pane or the one in pane #3?

[Morkel Erasmus]

sorry - I meant the 'post-processed' one posted at the start of the thread.
:)

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks. That's what I thought. While I love to incorporate diagonal lines in my flight (and in other) images, my feeling is that corner to corner with this one would look quite unnatural.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Great find, I've seen this species only once. I like the details and open bill, too bad you didn't have more favorable light.

Happy Birthday!

[Arthur Morris]

Great find, I've seen this species only once. I like the details and open bill, too bad you didn't have more favorable light. Happy Birthday!

Thanks Axel. All that we had was sun, sun, sun, and clear skies. I hate flight photography in those conditions. As is, I reduced contrast and ran a Linear Burn on the brightest whites....

[Ramon M. Casares]

At first glance I didn't thought this one was yours Artie.
I like the open bill, detail and exposure,comp IMO could be better by having a bit more room at the bottom and less to the left, also light was less than ideal; it is a nice shot, sharp and all, but you've raised the barr so much that one sometimes expects more :)

Quiestion: Using flash at max power with a Better Beamer would've helped? I don't know at what distance this Seagull was from you, that's why I ask.

Congratulations!

It was your birthday? Happy birthday Artie!! Hope you had a nice time!

[Dave Barnes]

Good capture Arthur, as you say not easy to frame from a moving boat and looking through the lens does not help to settle the stomach either.

[Stu Bowie]

I like the angle of flight, good underwing detail, and the open beak takes this over the top. Well captured from a boat.

[Harshad Barve]

awesome shot , How do u get flying shots so good
Harshad

[Kobus Tollig]

Happy birthday Arthur and thx for all your input on the site. You a busy man but still make time here. Thx.
I'm with Ramon on this. I would expect more from you but in the end what more can you get from this. Maybe just flying low with better bg. Nothing wrong with the shot really....

[Jay Gould]

Happy Birthday Mate, whenever it was!!

When was it?

Dare I ask how young?

Cheers, Jay

[Morkel Erasmus]

happy birthday Artie! whenever it was :)
many happy shooting hours to come...thanks for your efforts on this site! I am sure all the contributors appreciate it immensely!

[Mark Dumbleton]

Happy birthday Artie, and as for the image, exposure handled well, and open beak a plus.

[Arthur Morris]

Happy Birthday Mate, whenever it was!! When was it? Dare I ask how young? Cheers, Jay

Thanks Jay. June 14. 63, and healthier than I have ever been :) :) :)

Later and love, artie

[Arthur Morris]

With regards to the several disappointed folks above, I know that not every image that I post has BBC WPOTY potential. In fact, very few do. Many of the images that I make and sell are just good images, nothing breathtaking about them. I liked the open bill here and decided to share it. Another thing, 99.999% of the images that I post here, post in Bulletins, and post on the blog are brand new images.... I do get out to photograph a lot

[Arthur Morris]

happy birthday Artie! whenever it was :) many happy shooting hours to come...thanks for your efforts on this site! I am sure all the contributors appreciate it immensely!

Thanks Morkel (and the rest) for the bird-day wishes. (June 14th). Most folks so appreciate my and our efforts here, except in rare instances I manage to piss some folks off but it is never intentional and I have a need to be honest. Sometimes when there are several positive critiques in a row and then I show up and explain the problems I feel like the executioner. Were I to hold my tongue it would not do anybody any good.

I wish that I had time to do more critiques, but as I tend to type lots in most critiques, do lots of reposts, and travel a ton, that is not possible.

Thanks for your positive comments.

[Jay Gould]

Thanks Jay. June 14. 63, and healthier than I have ever been :) :) :)
Later and love, artie

מזל טוב my Luntsman!

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Happy belated birthday Maestro Artie! :) The image is nice, and I understand your comment re: your preference not to go corner to corner with this. Congrats young man!