Galapagos #7: Mixed Company

[Arthur Morris]

We spotted this Waved Albatross sitting on a single chick in front of a battalion of Marine Iguanas just inside the cliff where we would be photographing for about two hours but it was sunny. When the clouds rolled in I walked back a bit with my 70-200 and was in business.

Handheld at 200mm with the EOS-1D MIV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering -2/3 stop: 1/1000 sec. at f/5.6.

Don't be shy; all comments welcome.

[Arthur Morris]

ps: removed a few grasses from the bird's breast using a series of QMs and some Clone Stamp and Patch Tool work. Did the same to some whitewash.

[denise ippolito]

Artie, This really gives a sense of environment. I like the placement of the bird and the details. I might clean up the very tiny bit in each of the two FG corners if it were mine.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks. The lower left corner did bother me. Never noticed the lower right. What do you think of a crop from the left to lose the rock in the corner? I went half way there....

[denise ippolito]

That should work.

[Dan Busby]

Arthur - I would consider cropping down from top to eliminate the green - to just above the Iggy on the sloping rock. Might still have to do something to eliminate remaining bit of green in crevice. I think that would strengthen the focus on the reds of the Iggys contrasting with the Albatross.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Dan. For that to work for me I would need to crop down to a pano.

[allanrube]

This is a shot where I needed an explanation. I did not notice at first glance what was behind the albatross. Those iguanas do not stand out. Perhaps this is only due to the small size of the post. Do they stand out more in a larger size?

[Stu Bowie]

Great enviromental shot Artie, with a good placement of the albatross. The Iguanas are very well camoflauged against the surrounding rocks. As the Albatross stands out so well, the corner rocks dont bother me at all.

[Arthur Morris]

This is a shot where I needed an explanation. I did not notice at first glance what was behind the albatross. Those iguanas do not stand out. Perhaps this is only due to the small size of the post. Do they stand out more in a larger size?

I did not think that they would be they do... The fact that JPEGs often are a bit darker than the optimized TIFFs might be a factor. Back in a sec....

[Arthur Morris]

Here is a lightened version. See any iguanas? :)

[Art Kornienko]

Just curious if the Iguanas go after the chicks, the Albatross seems so out numbered.

[Arthur Morris]

Marine Iguanas eat only vegetation including algae and seaweed. The feed at low tide on the seaweed covered rocks and in addition they graze underwater. I have snorkeled with them as they fed.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

This is very unusual and good to hear that the Iguanas are vegetarians, the albatross seems to know this as he/she does not look very stressed. :)

I might remove the dark spots in the lower left and right corners and maybe the OOF grass in the lower left that partially obstructs the Iguanas. Thanks for sharing!

[arash_hazeghi]

very nice shot, at first I thought the Iguanas were just rock in the BG, I think this is one of those shots you need to to see a large print or at least 2000 pixels wide to get the whole story.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Artie, this is very unique. Thx for sharing. I like such shots a lot. This would be a killer 2-page center fold in a magazine. I also vote for pano crop as the bushes are catching the eye. A tighter crop will also make the stroy stronger I feel.

[Arthur Morris]

It was hard to find a good spot to crop from the top. I also took some off of the left and followed a few more suggestions. Thanks again all :)

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Artie, repost definitely makes mroe impact. Thx.

[Arthur Morris]

YAW and thanks for the suggestion. I gotta say that I prefer the wider framing (perhaps with some off of the left). :)

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I prefer the original crop, the repost looks a bit crowded.

[Chris van Rooyen]

I really enjoy the wider approach here, the story element. The white head is striking, drawing the attention immediately. I like the second version most, being wide and a tad lighter.

[Dan Busby]

I like the wider crop Arthur. For me, it provides a really strong focus on the bird (without that distracting and irrelevant green) and invites the eye to explore and figure out what all those reddish things are. But the albatross stays front and center. Beautiful!

[Arthur Morris]

I like the wider crop Arthur. For me, it provides a really strong focus on the bird (without that distracting and irrelevant green) and invites the eye to explore and figure out what all those reddish things are. But the albatross stays front and center. Beautiful!

Hi Dan, I am confused ::confused: The wider crop is the original image in Pane 1. That one has the green.... I think that you mean that you liked the tighter crop....

[Dan Busby]

I was just seeing if you were paying attention Artie:p. What I meant, and didn't articulate well, was I like the wide pano approach that I suggested in my earlier note. For me eliminating the green from the top helped the image. You ended up cutting more off the left and right than I was thinking but the latest image is very appealing to me.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks for the clearification:) Dan. I have actually graduated to the point where I like both versions....