A Walk On The Beach

[Norm Dulak]

Nikon D7000 w/Nikkor 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 VR lens @ 210mm, hand held
ISO 640; f/11, 1/1000 sec; aperture priority, MM
PP: PS CS5 levels, curves, crop and modest smart sharpen.

This group of Gentoo Penguins seemed to be enjoying a casual walk on the beach together. As our winter approaches, I too look forward to my next walk on the beach!

From Leopard Beach, Carcass Island, the Falklands.

Norm

[Randy Stout]

Norm:;
A very fun one, they do seem to be enjoying it!

Well exposed, sharp, pretty good DOF, certainly effective.

I like the various poses of their feet, wings up.

A lower shooting angle if possible might have strengthened the effect of them walking along, and I could see a bit more of a pano crop to further play up the sense of movement and direction.

Cheers

Randy

[ramesh anantharaman]

The scene is soo beautiful. I agree with Randy's observations. But nevertheless a wonderful image

[James Fuller]

Looks like they are having a great day on the beach. I would prefer this in the standard 4x6 aspect ratio. I did that here and lost the extra space on the top.

[Morkel Erasmus]

What a quirky moment Norm! I like James' crop suggestion...and obviously a lower angle would have been off-the-hook

[Brendan Dozier]

I like this one a lot, Norm! Wonderful moment captured. Fine with either crop, lower angle would be nice, but I think comp works well and also like the diagonals created by shoreline.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Such a great shot. Love the feet positions and the repost works better for me. It's more intimate.

[Norm Dulak]

Thanks everyone for looking, and for your thoughts on this image.

While you've expressed differences in opinion on how best to crop, the suggestion of the lowest shooting angle is consistent, and I agree. I did my best, shooting from my knees. But I did it from terrain that gradually sloped down toward the beach. So lying down on the ground would not have been much of an improvement. And at my age the prone position can be problematic; there is after all the problem of getting back up again!

Norm

[Robert Holguin]

Real nice shot. Wonderful poses on all three penguins, exposed very well, and a very enjoyable image.
Well done.

[Ken Watkins]

And at my age the prone position can be problematic; there is after all the problem of getting back up again!

Norm

plus one here

The image is wonderful with a great humourous quality

[Blake Cook]

I prefer the original crop. It's better balanced and enhances the character of the birds better than the suggested crop.

[John Chardine]

Good comments by all. The head angles are all good, which is a bit of a c r a p shoot with anything more than a couple of birds. I would like to see the left hand bird's head opened up a little = lightened. The idea of penguins walking down a beach to me "says" pano crop but I think both these work. The repost is a little more pano than the OP. The image reminds me still of how strange it was to see Gentoos on a white sand beach!