Galapagos #6/It Must be Love

[Arthur Morris]

This displaying pair of Waved Albatross (with the bowig bird facing directly away from us) was photographed on Hood Island with the handheld Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO lens ad teh EOS-1D MIII. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1/3 stop: 1/2000 sec. at f/5.6. 45-Point AAFPS AF yielded a sharp image.

Don't be shy; all comments welcome.

[Raul Quinones]

Love the picture, like the open mouth and feathers around the eyes. As always perfect exposure and DOF.
I understand this is a courtship display, but will prefer w/o the partial bird on the BRC.

Raul

[Alfred Forns]

I like how you lined up the head Artie Sweet behavior and could only have wished for a catchlight to liven the eyes but I know flash is not allowed !!! Big Congrats !!!

[Harshad Barve]

Bang on exposure , nice details , awesome pose by bird,
BG is fine for me as this is wild
partial OOF bird not adding much to image IMHO
TFS Guruji

[Ilija Dukovski]

Uh, I'd love to see this bird, the shape and whites are fantastic, and you got all the fine texture
on the plumage, the pose is incredible. Are they performing some kind of dance?

[Brian Barcelos]

This is an amazing capture Artie, Very comical looking expression. Reminds me of a character from the movie Labyrinth.:p Open mouth with all internal details put this over the top. Whites look gorgeous and I like the BG. Wish the OOF bird wasn't there but hey, he has to display for someone. Because of this and all your others is why I lay down on sharp jagged wet rocks at the beach and never complain.:D Congrats

Brian

[Jim Neiger]

Killer expression on this amazing bird, Artie! I wish the bird in the lower right wasn't there, but I'm sure you wish it wasn't there too. Not much you could do about that.

[Raymond Barlow]

great pose, and look, no need for a catchlight when the natural light does not provide one, imo., the LRHC "distraction" seems to add to the shot, it creates interest.

[Stu Bowie]

Good DOF, and how is that tongue. I like the expression, and would love to see one of these guys in flight, showing their massive wing span. Lovely soft colours in the BG, although I would darken them a tad. The other bird is a bit distracting.

[Connie Mier]

A very eye catching image of an interesting bird. Of course your exposure is excellent, but I do find the bowing bird distracting and would have not known what it was without your explanation. Artie, if you don't mind answering, I'm wondering how you would set the exposure if you were attempting to get both birds clearly in the frame with both light and dark feathers being significant in the image.
Connie

[Ramon M. Casares]

I think it's a terrific shot, light, exposure, BG, pose, atitude, natural behaviour and comp are stunnnig. I am not really crazy about th OOF bird in the FG.
Congratulations!

[Gal Shon]

beautiful behavior shot, somewhat funny face
I can't decides about the OOF shoulder? of the other bird
It's strengthen the image as a behavior / interaction shot between the pair.
Maybe adding a little bit more ( part of the beak, face) of the other bird will enhance the image.

[Arthur Morris]

Uh, I'd love to see this bird, the shape and whites are fantastic, and you got all the fine texture on the plumage, the pose is incredible. Are they performing some kind of dance?

Yes, Ilyas, this is one part of the courtship dance. I believe that it has seven distinct parts. Sorry Ilijas for calling you Ilyas. Ilyas is one of my three grandsons! A slip of the brain.

[Arthur Morris]

Gal, the other bird was bowing at this point. I tried to time it for that or it would have been mega-distracting.

[Kiran Poonacha]

Wow guru.. reminds me of the scream movie... loved it all the way.... congrats...

[Simon Bennett]

Wonderful natural history here, Artie- those colours around the bill and expanded 'eye-brows' would really impress another albatross (and me too). Perhaps would be better without lower left dark object, and by smoothing out the somewhat grainy background.

[Ilija Dukovski]

Yes, Ilyas, this is one part of the courtship dance. I believe that it has seven distinct parts. Sorry Ilijas for calling you Ilyas. Ilyas is one of my three grandsons! A slip of the brain.

Artie, didn't get email notification on this one, lost in the down time probably:(
No problem about the name, it's pretty much the same name. Not typical American,
glad to hear it's your grandson's name. Used to be very common in Macedonia, not so much recently.