Chinstrap portrait

[John Chardine]

On our last landing in Antarctica yesterday, we had fantastic, soft light with some snow falling. We were in a Gentoo Penguin colony (Neko Harbour) but several young Chinstrap Penguins were also hanging out. This one caught my attention.

This is a heavy crop for a portrait. A thin, dark edge at the left caused by an OOF penguin in the BG was cloned out. I was surprised that the F7.1 was sufficient to keep the facial features in the depth of field.

Look forward to your comments!

Canon EOS 50D, 70-200mm f4 IS @ 200mm
capture date: 10 December 2009, 4:25 PM
exposure program: Aperture Priority
ISO speed: 400
shutter speed: 1/800
aperture: f7.1
exposure bias: +0.7
metering: Pattern
flash: OFF

[Kiran Poonacha]

loved the portrait John, nice details, with 7.1 getting the beak and face well in focus is great.. loved that eye contact..

[Manos Papadomanolakis]

Beautiful snow falling,pose...eye contact!

[Brian Barcelos]

I find these to be the coolest looking penguins and you did a great job on his portrait. The snow really adds a lot to this and yes the dof is perfect. Hope to soon see lots of your Antarctica images. Congrats

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

John....what a nice shot. The snow adds a lot. Funny looking bird. very cool.

I think you got the 'facial details and the beak' with f/7.1 at close distance is because it looks like you focussed somewhere on the beak instead of the eye. good call.

[Arthur Morris]

Have a safe wonderful trip and make lots more great images like this one. My greatest desire is to return to the Southern Oceans in NOV 2011 with Van Os....

The "heavy crop" is most likely responsible for the excellent d-o-f. Love the head angle (or lack thereof!) and the perfect EXP and the snow.

[Steve Maxson]

Cool image, John. I like the pose and the sharpness you achieved on the eyes and the entire beak. The snow on the head and in the air is a nice added touch. Gee, I wonder why they call these Chinstraps? :) Well done.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like this a lot! Great to see both eyes, the soft light, nice BG and snow flakes add to it. I have never seen this species and am wondering if a little saturation and/or contrast boost would make it even better. Please post more of these birds. I hope to be able to go there sometime.

[Tony Whitehead]

Agree with Axel, especially re the contrast - lovely image John. Tried a quick version with OnOne Phototools Daily multivit to give an idea. Love the fill light under the beak from the snow - real beauty lighting.

[Norm Dulak]

John:

That's a stunning portrait indeed! Since my wife and I will be heading down there in 12 months and hope to try to emulate your success, I wonder if you could give us a few pointers on that kind of photography.

I'd like to know roughly what your working distance is for penguin photography. Also, do you generally kneel or lie on the ground to get down to their level?

Norm

[Jim Fenton]

Absolutely beautiful image all the way around....I do think Tony's repost makes it even stronger.

[John Chardine]

Thanks yo all for the great comments and to Tony for the repost which is an improvement. I've been fighting harsh light and black and white birds for almost 6 weeks down here so it would not occur to be to boost the contrast! I'm back home Monday with about 11,000 images kept from the trip. Will weed further and post more. I'll post to the "new" Antarctica regional forum.

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Norm,

re:

That's a stunning portrait indeed! Since my wife and I will be heading down there in 12 months and hope to try to emulate your success, I wonder if you could give us a few pointers on that kind of photography. I'd like to know roughly what your working distance is for penguin photography.

Though the birds are totally tame and often inquisitive the guides want you to stay several yards away. I always bring a big lens.

Also, do you generally kneel or lie on the ground to get down to their level?

For the most part I did not as I had a big lens with TCs so my angles of declination were not steep for the most part.

My Antarctica Site, Travel, an Logistics Guide might interest you: https://store.birdsasart.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=56

Here's a bit more:

ANTARCTICA SITE GUIDE AVAILABLE

The Antarctica Site, Travel, and Logistics Guide PDF on CD is now available. The site guide section covers only the areas that I visited on my cruise to the Falklands, South Georgia, and Antarctica, but the main purpose of the guide is to prepare you for a difficult logistical trip. Which tour do I join? What lenses do I bring? How do I protect my equipment in the harsh environment and more importantly, on the Zodiacs. What do I wear? What about footwear? What about electricity on board? These and dozens more questions will be answered. The 70 page guide includes 73 spectacular images with educational captions.

Craig Gibson, who was anxious to receive a pre-publication copy of the guide, had this to say via e-mail:

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Thanks and best, Craig

[Paul Lagasi]

Way to go John nice image, nicer repost..wow 6 weeks went by quick

[denise ippolito]

John, Really nice head on pose. I like the eyes. The snowflakes are a nice addition as noted and Tony's repost rocks. Hope you'll share more of these cool looking birds.

[Raymond Barlow]

wonderful portrait John, superb eye contact, and details, the repost is even better., I would not have thought of a square crop on this image.

[Bill Dix]

John: Super portrait! I would love to see some of these penguins one day. In the meantime I look forward to some more of your 11,000 images.

[Harshad Barve]

This is such a spectacular image and I can only add WOW to all above comments

I'm back home Monday with about 11,000 images kept from the trip.

Cant wait to see those

TFS

[John Chardine]

John:

That's a stunning portrait indeed! Since my wife and I will be heading down there in 12 months and hope to try to emulate your success, I wonder if you could give us a few pointers on that kind of photography.

I'd like to know roughly what your working distance is for penguin photography. Also, do you generally kneel or lie on the ground to get down to their level?

Norm

Norm- Tourist activities in Antarctica are controlled by IAATO- the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators. IAATO is a superb example of an industry controlling itself, and very effectively I would add. As a staff member on board a ship owned by a company which is a member of IAATO, one of my many tasks is to make sure we abide by all the IAATO regulations when we land ashore. People who land ashore in Antarctica have to have had an extensive IAATO briefing on how to conduct themselves. We do these on board ship.

Minimum distances to penguins is 5 metres or 15'. They will often approach you closer than this but you may not approach closer. As they are sizeable birds, at 5m a 70-200mm lens works very well. I did use my 400/5.6 for portraits etc. And of course, you attempt to get down to their eye level, which is easier this time of year because the colonies are still covered in snow. In January they become very mucky and stinky with penguin poop and I would not recommend laying down!

For more information look at www.iaato.org

[Norm Dulak]

Norm- Tourist activities in Antarctica are controlled by IAATO- the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators. IAATO is a superb example of an industry controlling itself, and very effectively I would add. As a staff member on board a ship owned by a company which is a member of IAATO, one of my many tasks is to make sure we abide by all the IAATO regulations when we land ashore. People who land ashore in Antarctica have to have had an extensive IAATO briefing on how to conduct themselves. We do these on board ship.

Minimum distances to penguins is 5 metres or 15'. They will often approach you closer than this but you may not approach closer. As they are sizeable birds, at 5m a 70-200mm lens works very well. I did use my 400/5.6 for portraits etc. And of course, you attempt to get down to their eye level, which is easier this time of year because the colonies are still covered in snow. In January they become very mucky and stinky with penguin poop and I would not recommend laying down!

For more information look at www.iaato.org

John:

That's very useful information. I think I'll get right angle view finder attachments for our cameras. That way we can get down, without getting down and dirty!

Norm

[Arthur Morris]

I was there in January and some locations were rife with penguin poop while others were clean.