Out of the box, but I was taken with the flying perfection of this Black-legged Kittiwake, as captured by a still photograph, at Cape St. Mary's, Newfoundland. The bird essentially presents a smooth, pointed cylinder with propellers on each side, to the on-coming air.
The "tickle-aces" as they are called in Newfoundland were gathering grass and mud behind me for their nests, flying to their nests in front, then flying back towards me. I have to admit that these kittiwakes were quite a "bird-in-flight" challenge for me, and the 50D had trouble keeping up too.
I'm sure there are other crops but it just felt right to put the bird where it is.
Canon EOS 50D, 500/4 mounted on Mongoose
capture date: Saturday, 6 June 2009, 11:48 AM
exposure program: Manual
ISO speed: 400
shutter speed: 1/1600
aperture: f6.3
exposure bias: +0.0
metering: Pattern
flash: ON - with beamer but ineffective at this distance
focal length: 500.0
Very interesting pose, great whites exposure, nice feel overall.
I wish the LLH corner feature was more blended in surrounding.
Perhaps a thigher crop might work too, to get more of the eye contact
in-your-face kind of feel.
Thanks for all the comments. I've taken a little of the top and sides and toned down the LL, as per suggestions.
Yes the bird was coming at me at a great rate. I spent about 2 hours and ended up with 10 so-so keepers! I was having an issue with the AF on the 50D, which I'll post to the photo gear forum for some advice.
flying machine
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