just passin' by

[John Chardine]

During sea-days in Antarctica, I spend as much time as I can attempting to make images of petrels in flight. This one is of an Antarctic Petrel who came a little close and I made a single grab shot. I'm glad I didn't throw it away before now. Let me know what you think.

Cropped some of the sky off the top. Dodged the dark areas of the face, sharpened.

Canon EOS 50D, 70-200 f4 IS x 1.4tc @ 280mm
capture date: 3 December 2009 12:18 PM
exposure program: Manual
ISO speed: 400
shutter speed: 1/1250
aperture: f5.6
exposure bias: +0.0
metering: Pattern
flash: OFF

[denise ippolito]

John, This is a very interesting look. Even though I am not a fan of panos I might take a little off the top and sharpen the eye a little more. The thing that grabs me most about this is the sense of motion and the soft color palette.:)

[Indranil Sircar]

Interesting composition, John. Definitely OOTB! I like the curve of the petrel and the sense of motion. Nice muted colors and the pano crop works here. I am still undecided if this would be better with complete face including the bill or without it. TFS.

[Ed Vatza]

Hi John,

Must warn you, I'm in a philosophizing mood these days. When I opened this post, looked at the image and read your description, one thought came to my mind, actually I guess more of a philosophical question. Does an out-of-the-box image occur as a result of planning, pre-visualization, etc. or can it just happen, almost by accident. I am asking myself this question because I get the feeling that this image falls into the second camp. Now obviously you did some things to the image, the crop for example.

That said, I do feel that this image conveys a real sense of motion and come extremely close to losing its identity as a bird.

They talk about a "hot stove league" among baseball fans where they gather around and discuss baseball during the dog days of winter. Maybe I need a hot stove league for photographers! :D

[John Chardine]

Hi Ed- philosophise-away; it's a good thing!

You are correct, this was not conceived but happened by accident. Days after I made the image I tried several times to duplicate a tight portrait with my 24-105 lens as the birds swooped in close to the ship. This only occurs when the conditions are right but I never did get anything useable!

I will, with respect, reword your question- "Can a out-of-the-box image occur as a result of planning, pre-visualization, etc. or can ......." In other words, does it belong here? Under the current forum guidelines I think it does, but philosophically it may not.

I think BPN is a pretty good hot-stove league for nature photography!

[John Chardine]

Interesting composition, John. Definitely OOTB! I like the curve of the petrel and the sense of motion. Nice muted colors and the pano crop works here. I am still undecided if this would be better with complete face including the bill or without it. TFS.

Indranil- the decision to crop out the bill was made for me by fate, at the time of exposure. I'll see if I have a suitable bill to clone on just to see if we can answer your question! I did consider cropping out the corner of the mouth but in the end thought this was an important anatomical signpost that needed to be there. Maybe not?!

[Julie Kenward]

John, I'd cut the sky down by half and go with a very tight pano all the way around. I don't know why but I think it will make the image feel like less of a mistake and more like it was planned. Maybe???