Galapagos #9: Albatross Juxtaposition

[Arthur Morris]

This is a nesting pair of Waved Albatross, photographed on Hood Island with the Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens and the EOS-1D MIV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering probably +2/3 stop: 1/1250 sec. at f/7.1

I like the juxtaposition of the two heads and the tilt of the head of the rear bird. Once I had a decent juxtaposition lined up I created lots of images. This is my fave.

Don't be shy; all comments welcome.

[Deborah Harrison]

Lovely image! Until one tries to capture these majestic birds it's difficult to realize how difficult it is. I would, however, like to see a bit more detail in the eye of the foreground albatross.

[Joe Senzatimore]

Beautiful inter action between the 2. Might add a very small catchlight in the foreground bird's eye. Just my 2 cents.

[denise ippolito]

Artie, Nice juxtaposition of the two heads. The image has a nice intimate feel to it. I also like Joe's catch light idea since I see a hint of one there already. Very nice details on the beak. I was hoping to capture a similar image but I couldn't get the other head angle. Nicely done.

[Robert O'Toole]

This one is great Artie, well done. The framing and cropping are just about perfect as far as I concerned.

Agree with the catch light idea.

This is one of the those situations where a flash would have very useful here, even a 7D or similar pop up flash would have worked just for a catch light. But we have all had these situations! While we are at it some nice gentle rain would have given us some nice rain droplets on the beak and feathers on the head!

Anyway great job Artie even without the flash or rain :)

Robert

[Arthur Morris]

This one is great Artie, well done. The framing and cropping are just about perfect as far as I concerned. Agree with the catch light idea. This is one of the those situations where a flash would have very useful here, even a 7D or similar pop up flash would have worked just for a catch light. But we have all had these situations! While we are at it some nice gentle rain would have given us some nice rain droplets on the beak and feathers on the head! Anyway great job Artie even without the flash or rain :) Robert

Thanks Robert. I should have mentioned that this image was optimized by Robert. After doing some Eye Doctor work on the sharp bird I added a tiny highlight to a bright area at the eye. Not sure if it will be evident in the JPEG. It looks fine in the re-optimized TIFF.

[Arthur Morris]

Ah, it looks pretty good.

[Charles Wesley]

Artie,

Love the redone image. Just the hint of a catchlight. Not overdone just perfect. The head turn and animal interaction makes this a winner IMO. Agree that this is a difficult metering situation that you handled so well.

Thanks for sharing...
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Charlie Wesley
St. Augustine Beach, FL
http://naturesphotographs.com

[Stu Bowie]

Good exposure and detail, and just love the inquisitive look of the other albatross. Your repost with the enhanced catchlight works well.

[Hendri Venter]

I can just image how difficult they must be to expose correctly but as always you did it expertly Artie. The look from the OOF bird is priceless.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks all for your kind words. Do note that exposure with digital is actually simple. And when the light is constant it should be child's play for everyone... Just make sure that you push your histogram as far to the right as possible while having only a very few flashing pixels. Then set that EXP manually and you are good to go until the light changes....

You can learn everything that I know about exposure theory in ABP and all that you need to know about digital exposure and histograms in ABP II. Plus tons and tons more info for those who really want to learn. We offer $10 off the combo :)

[Charles Wesley]

Artie,

Thanks for the exposure tutorial. Understand completely what your saying. Thanks so much...
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Charlie Wesley
St Augustine Beach, FL

[Arthur Morris]

YAW. You guys have it a zillion times easier than it was with film....

[denise ippolito]

The eye looks great!

[Charles Wesley]

Artie,

No question about it. I was scanning some of my old chromes earlier this year. Though most were good when taken. Oh how mistaken I was. Need some fine wine to keep calm. I like reds...
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Charlie Wesley
St Augustine Beach, FL

[Markus Jais]

I like this a lot. The V-shap of the two bills are great as is the look on the out of focus bird.
Beautiful soft light.

Markus