King of the Tundra Close Up

[Arthur Morris]

This King Eider was photographed with the Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens, the 1.4X II TC, and the EOS-1D MIV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop: 1/640 sec. at f/9 set manually.

For the whole story of an incredible but fruitless tundra walk and the creation of this image, check out the June 19th blog post here: www.birdsasart-blog.com

Don't be shy; all comments welcome.

[Troy Lim]

Wow, pretty looking bird.
What was the brown thing in the BG?

Drops around the eyes look like sparkles, makeup.

How much cropping did you have to do with that setup?

[Randy Stout]

Artie:

A striking and rarely posted duck. Lovely colors, and the soft light helped with this challenging to expose properly fellow.

As a very minor point, I wish the rear raised feather on the back didn't intersect with the frame edge.
Wish the eye was a bit brighter, but I suspect that is how it really looks.

Have a safe trip home.

Cheers

Randy

[Grace Scalzo]

What a beautiful image, earned the hard way from reading your blog. Only thing I note is there are two brown streaks that don't add anything (URC). Sure do like this image, totally interesting and well done.

[Arthur Morris]

The two yellowish brown things are blades of vegetation, a sort of thick aquatic grass. I debated removing them but opted to leave them in as part of a recent effort not to make each image perfectly perfect. A few others less distinct have already been eliminated. On Randy's pointy feather, me too :). The iris has already been lightened considerably; I did want to stay away from the phony-headlight look! This is a small crop from the front and the top. The original is above. Note the darker eye.

[Grace Scalzo]

Interesting, I like the Pane #5 image just fine, regarding the vegetaion. Maybe you could do a little clean up here or there. But to my eye, I'd leave more of the vegetation pieces in, or remove them all. To have just two of them so prominently in your image (Pane 1) draws my eye to them and makes me think about them ... distracts me from the beautiful eider.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Here though I have to disagree with you. I like that the yellow tones go with the orange bulb on the bird's bill. For me it helps to move the viewer's eye around the frame yet it is subtle enough for that that killer colorful face brings me right back :)

[Danny J Brown]

The two yellowish brown things are blades of vegetation, a sort of thick aquatic grass. I debated removing them but opted to leave them in as part of a recent effort not to make each image perfectly perfect. A few others less distinct have already been eliminated. On Randy's pointy feather, me too :). The iris has already been lightened considerably; I did want to stay away from the phony-headlight look! This is a small crop from the front and the top. The original is above. Note the darker eye.

Hi Artie - I truly hope this response doesn't start a controversial thread, but I was thrilled to read that you are occasionally leaving minor biological distractions in some of your images in an effort to make them "not so perfectly perfect." So many people follow your lead, as I certainly have, so when you take a direction that I like, it makes me happy because I'll probably be seeing a lot more "not so perfectly perfect" images in the future from others.....and as a biologist, those are the ones I enjoy the most.

Later - DB

[Grace Scalzo]

Thanks for your further comment, Artie. It's a fine image, with or without. And btw, happy belated birthday.

[Troy Lim]

Like the repost even more. TFS.

[Arthur Morris]

Like the repost even more. TFS.

In the original, which you are calling the repost, there is much too much space in front of the bird and above; the image is unbalanced. And the bit of vegetation just in front of the breast is quite distracting.

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Artie - I truly hope this response doesn't start a controversial thread, but I was thrilled to read that you are occasionally leaving minor biological distractions in some of your images in an effort to make them "not so perfectly perfect." So many people follow your lead, as I certainly have, so when you take a direction that I like, it makes me happy because I'll probably be seeing a lot more "not so perfectly perfect" images in the future from others.....and as a biologist, those are the ones I enjoy the most. Later - DB

Thanks Danny. Such decisions are of course entirely personal. I do appreciate both your thoughts and your support. Just don't expect me to be posting any cluttered messes and be defending them by calling them habitat shots of stating "it is what it is." :)

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks for your further comment, Artie. It's a fine image, with or without. And btw, happy belated birthday.

YAW Grace. And thanks for the birthday wishes. I had hoped to photograph King Eider well before I buy the farm so this trip was the realization of a 20 year dream. Each time that we completed a successful stalk of the three eider species there were high fives all around :)

[Troy Lim]

In the original, which you are calling the repost, there is much too much space in front of the bird and above; the image is unbalanced. And the bit of vegetation just in front of the breast is quite distracting.

I was referring to the one without the vegetation in front. Should have been more clear.

[Arthur Morris]

I was referring to the one without the vegetation in front. Should have been more clear.

Ah, you prefer the original post. That is good :)

[Jim Fenton]

Beautiful subject and I'm jealous :)

Exposure is perfect to my eyes for this type of lighting.

I strongly favor your repost as the various bits of marsh plant life in the background makes sense whereas in the first image, the one darker piece which you chose to leave looks out of place.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Jim. See my comments above in Panes 7 and 11 ;)

[Troy Lim]

Ah, you prefer the original post. That is good :)

Either way, it is a great image.
:confused::)

[Harshad Barve]

this looks like a toy :eek::p:eek:
What a amazing bird and what a amazing head this guy has
Can't expect anything less than this from you Guruji , Mighty fine image
TFS

[Jackie Schuknecht]

I will add to the kudos and say a very fine image, just two minor points IMO, the brown in the BG, and the white stripe on the bird is a little hot. Easy fixes. What a thrill it must have been to see this bird.

[denise ippolito]

Artie, I like the pose and the sharp details. I most especially like the water drops on the face. Beautiful colors on this duck.:)

[Stu Bowie]

Yet again, amazing colour and detail on the head. The droplets add so much more. If anything, I would maybe just take a tad off the top on your OP.

[Rich Steel]

Hi Artie

I was hoping to possibly see some of these along with Stellar's Eider on my trip to Norway last week. Unfortuantely the 100s of birds that are present in the harbours during the Spring up had all departed :( and there were no stragglers to be found left behind.

An interesting tale of your exploits on your blog to get these photos and hope you hip has improved.

These are beautiful ducks and the original post is a marked improvement on the repost. Exposure and sharpness are very good and I think the subtle lightening of the eye has worked well. I think if I was going to remove some of the vegetation, I would have been tempted to go the whole way and remove those in the top right as well. The vegetation in the orginial photo is not clearly enough defined to convey a sense of place.

Cheers

Rich

[Chris van Rooyen]

Great sharpness, posture and composition. I love the subtle processing, personally I enjoy the original post most, the work on the eye is fantastic. The species is absolutely spectacular. Interesting thread on the "not so perfect" philosophy. I support it, the trick (in my humble opinion) is to use the "not so perfect" aspects to actually enhance the overall aesthetic feel, and in the process (perhaps paradoxically in a way) make it a better work of art:) gosh I hope that make sense... :confused:

[Arthur Morris]

If anything, I would maybe just take a tad off the top on your OP.

In the original post (Pane 1), I left enough space to serve as border for the much maligned blades of aquatic vegetation :)

For those who prefer a perfectly clean background, I off a true repost here. (The image in Pane 5 is a JPEG that represents the original capture.)

IAC, my preference is still for the image in Pane 1 :)

[Arthur Morris]

This one clearly shows the aquatic vegetation.

[Arthur Morris]

Great sharpness, posture and composition. I love the subtle processing, personally I enjoy the original post most, the work on the eye is fantastic. The species is absolutely spectacular. Interesting thread on the "not so perfect" philosophy. I support it, the trick (in my humble opinion) is to use the "not so perfect" aspects to actually enhance the overall aesthetic feel, and in the process (perhaps paradoxically in a way) make it a better work of art:) gosh I hope that make sense... :confused:

Thanks on all counts Chris. I have dreamed of photographing this species for nearly three decades so this trip was quite satisfying :) What you say makes perfect sense to me. Over the past year I have just been getting the feeling that I need to optimize my images so that they look more realistic than perfect. And usually this includes leaving some stuff in. If it can create even a hint of the habitat, as in the Pane 1 image, so much the better. Heck, the blades are both yellowish brown and a bit curved....

It will be great meeting you in Bosque this year. Chris will be a guest col-leader on my Bosque IPT this November. Chris will be doing a full program of his work from South Africa for the group. BPN members are invited to apply a 10% discount.

[Danny J Brown]

Great sharpness, posture and composition. I love the subtle processing, personally I enjoy the original post most, the work on the eye is fantastic. The species is absolutely spectacular. Interesting thread on the "not so perfect" philosophy. I support it, the trick (in my humble opinion) is to use the "not so perfect" aspects to actually enhance the overall aesthetic feel, and in the process (perhaps paradoxically in a way) make it a better work of art:) gosh I hope that make sense... :confused:

That's deep Chris....but I totally get it and like what you are saying.

DB

[Mike Fuhr]

That's deep Chris....but I totally get it and like what you are saying.

DB

I'll second that one Danny. "Perfection" is subjective, and it's good to remember that everyone has their own thoughts and opinions when it comes to their photographs.

[Michael Zajac]

Amazing looking duck. Sharpness and exposure look great.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Artie, thx a lot for sharing this one. what a duck. As usual, perfect shooting angle, subtle head turn and excellent exposure.

[Jan Wegener]

This must have been a stunning experience. I hope I can go up there some day, too. The birds is perfectly exposed and even the grey water does not bother me too much :)
I also like the oof vegetation

[Matthew Studebaker]

Honor to have you on our workshop Artie. So glad the death march paid off in the end. I'm not always a fan of bird head portraits, but I think the King Eider deserves head portraits. This shot shows off his color and complex shapes nicely.

[Doug Brown]

What an absolutely incredible species. I'm sure it was a thrill to photograph them! I like the inclusion of habitat, but I would be tempted to leave a little more behind the bird (I'd remove the vegetation in the foreground though). Having only one spot of vegetation in the URC draws my eye to it; vegetation on the left side of the frame would help balance things out.