Which is French for Raven. Appropriate in that this image was made at Bonaventure Island, Québec, Canada.
On our way to the gannet colony to work for the day we were treated to a fantastic display by a couple of families of ravens. They were clearly having a lot of fun playing in the air, and their acrobatics were very impressive.
There was virtually no colour in the image to begin with so I desaturated it completely. Although I provided +1.7 stops on the exposure I only really wanted silhouettes of the birds. As it turned out the top bird banked and caught the light so that bird has some detail. I lightened the other one a bit to balance. Also ran NR.
The crop was a tough choice. Comments welcome.
PS I have others I would like to post in due course.
Date: 24 September, 2010, Time: 1118h
Model: Canon EOS-1D Mark IV
Lens: EF400mm f/5.6L USM, 400 mm
Program: Aperture Priority
ISO 800, 1/2500s, f/7.1
Exp. comp.: +1.7
Flash: off
John, I think this works very well as a B/W. The crop works well for me. I'm not generally a fan of frames, but a thin one might work well here to set it off from the neutral grey BG of BPN.
When I saw you're title, I told myself he must be french. Small world, I am from Moncton, NB. I have been to that gannet colony in QC and it is just amazing there.
As for the image, you nailed the action very well. These birds are quite acrobatic, and we often take them for granted because they eat our trash :D I agree on the thin frame, would set it off in this case.
Amazing action, well captured. Works nicely without color. Lighting on the upper bird is great, and the frame helps (something I never think of doing). Are the catchlights natural? They look just a tiny bit too strong on my screen, but that's probably the contrast with the dark ravens.
Catch lights are natural Bill, and the one on the lower bird did brighten up when I lightened the bird. I can't tell for sure in the original image but I suspect the lower bird has the nictitating membrane over its eye too.
playing corbeaux
