As promised..............

[John Chardine]

Another image from a fantastic trip to to the Northern Gannet colony at Bonaventure Island in Quebec. We had a lot of sunshine during the week, which made for lots of contrast and shadows. This is where the fill flash was essential to fill shadows and soften the light.

One of the great joys of photographing gannets is to capture the parent returning to the nest. They do this in a very stereotyped way, all designed to land safely in a rather inhospitable place with lots of sharp bills and sticks below (we see dead birds which have impaled themselves on sticks). The final approach involves this flare as they drop down into the birds below, head down with full binocular vision to assess height.

For this one I cropped a little, and sharpened. Comments welcome!

Date: 13 June, 2011, Time: 1135h
Model: Canon EOS-1D Mark IV
Lens: EF70-200mm f/4L IS USM, 200 mm
Program: Manual
ISO 640, 1/1250s, f/7.1
Exp. comp.: 0.0
Flash: on, beamer, Flash exp. comp.: 0.0

[Bill Jobes]

Simply stunning, John !

The action, the various poses (in the air and on the ground), the delicate colors all add up to a most compelling photograph.

It does feel a little 'heavy' on the right side due to the more open wing and bird cluster at LR, but we take what Nature offers ! That's just an observation, in no way intended as a criticism.

Congratulations on a well-executed photo.

[Jim Buescher]

Wonderful capture, thanks for sticking to your pronise! Image really keeps the eye moving looking at the various birds....my favorite is the guy looking straight at us with the scowl. Hope to see more from this trip.

[denise ippolito]

Beautiful landing John. Love the exposure and sharpness.

[noelle zaleski]

Very, very nice!!

[nancy hazen]

Wow, this is a magnificent image!
Nancy

[Tom Redd]

Wow!!, John, this is a stunning image. I love the pose and the colors are killer. Excellent use of the flash. TFS and congrats on a fine image.

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Fantastic image John, I love including the group an the bottom to tell the entire story. That being landing is not a simple act and one to be taken seriously.

[James Boland]

John... the image tells a great story. Beautiful.

[annmpacheco]

Beautiful composition, swell color and sharpness. The action must be over the top and for this split second, I counted about thirty gannets surrounding this landing. I got Gannet fever! Wow.

[John Chardine]

Ann- make sure you keep the fever until 9 July!!!

[Kerry Perkins]

John, spectacular capture! The exposure of the whites is awesome. You were putting some serious light out there with the beamer at 0 FEC! Wonderful landing pose and just a world-class image all around.

[dankearl]

Are you sure this isn't a movie animation?
Excellent and fun.

[John Chardine]

John, spectacular capture! The exposure of the whites is awesome. You were putting some serious light out there with the beamer at 0 FEC! Wonderful landing pose and just a world-class image all around.

Sure was Kerry. In bright sun, the flash luminance has a hard time competing. It's possible I had the flash set to Manual 1/1 which really is a blast of light. In ETTL mode even with zero flash exposure compensation Canon dials back the flash for a fill effect. Maybe the EXIF data will tell me how I set the flash (I can't remember).

Thanks to all for the comments.

[Paul Lagasi]

Wow...what a beauty...lovely capture, did I say wow

[William Malacarne]

Wonderful shot John.....but I do have one question for you. Why would you take a picture when all the head angles were so bad?.....

Bill

[John Chardine]

Good one Bill! I see one, maybe two good head angles out of the 30± there!

[Grace Scalzo]

Absolute winner, John. I cannot remember an image that I've enjoyed more than this one...so full of interest and beauty.

[Don Railton]

This is absolutely beautiful John...

DON

[John Chardine]

Thanks Don and others. I'm quite happy with this image and will likely make a print of it.