the essence of a gannet

[John Chardine]

I post this here because a macro image of a young Northern Gannet's eye is not a "normal" image. I work on gannets and have been trapping and banding them for the past week, so I have the unique opportunity to photograph them at very close quarters.

Nothing much done to the image other than a moderate crop and sharpen.

Date: 24 September, 2010, Time: 1257h
Model: Canon EOS-1D Mark IV
Lens: EF100mm f/2.8 Macro USM, 100 mm
Program: Aperture Priority
ISO 800, 1/1000s, f/7.1
Exp. comp.: 0.0
Flash: off

[denise ippolito]

An amazing close up John. I can see your shadow in it's eye. The eye looks like fine marble and granite. I wonder if a tiny bit more on the left side might look nice also.

[Paul Lagasi]

For a minute there, John I thought I saw the Gannet blink...although I was surprised you took this image from so far away :o.
Very cool image..TFS

[Deborah Hanson]

Incredible detail of the eye.
Like the all the textures in the image.
Just curious what it would look like in B&W.

[Connie Mier]

I love it, the placement of the eye relative to feathers and beak, make this quite interesting to look at. This would look nice as B&W. Also, interesting iris on that bird, looks like hairs around the edge.

[Cheryl Slechta]

The hairs were the first thing I noticed too. I love the intimate look to the image. The eye really does look like a stone. :)

[Kerry Perkins]

This is really cool John. Super work with the macro lens, love all the detail. Would be fun to take this image into Topaz Clean or Simplify... :cool: