Canon 7D, Canon EF70-200mmf4. Shutter speed 1/4000 at f4.0, iso400. Handheld from a boat. Location Wild Coast, Indian Ocean, South Africa, 25 June 2010, 14h27. Cropped from 18 to 12mp. Processed in ACR, sharpened in PS. These Cape gannets were part of the annual 'sardine run' that takes place here and were flying low over the swells as they moved from one place to another. I shot really fast as the boat was moving up, down and sideways. All C and C welcome
Grant
I love this shot. It conveys a sense of motion. I can feel the boat rocking up and down. Good that you kept the bird in the background too. Is the gannet a bit large in the frame?
Hi Craig, I don't know if it is too large in the frame, hence the posting:confused:, it could be. I do have more space in the original, but I cropped from the rhs of the pic, more water and some far-off OOF gannets sitting in the water...
thanks for commenting
Grant
Nicely done Grant! I know how hard it is to be stable while fishing in a rocking ocean, not to mention trying a take a decent photograph. It looks as if you got pretty close. I would be tempted to remove the distant bird though. Thanks for the share…
Beautifully captured with lovely detail and I love the feeling of motion you captured in this image. The BG adds so much and the eye contact is great.Ditto removing the OOF bird. Fine work.
Thanks for the comments folks. Gene, they come pretty close to the boat, especially if they are following other gannets that are already diving for fish nearby. I found it much easier to find and track them from the moving boat using the 70-200 lens, rather than the 300mm I would usually use for birds. I will consider removing the OOF bird. Your c and c much appreciated.
cheers
grant
Hi Axel, no others from this sequence that I kept. But I do have quite a few others from the same place, day and past couple weeks with wings up and down. I will post a different one in a couple days time..
Thanks for looking
Grant