On july 2011 I spent a day at the gannet colony of Troup Head, in Scotland. One side of the cliff is oriented to the West, and I noticed a pair of common guillemots (Uria aalge) on an isolated little shelf, below the nesting gannets. The guillemots took turns to go fishing, so I kept an eye on them the wole afternoon, hoping to see the chick. But it was well hidden behind the adult(s), in a depression in the rock. So it's only at the very end of the day that I had one occasion, and only one, for a clear shot: the adult stepped back a little to flap its wings, and voilą! Here is the best shot of the series.
I must admit I was a bit surprised by the size of the adult when it extended his body, I wouldn't have minded a bit more space above and below the bird.
EOS 7D + EF 300mm 2.8L + Extender 2x
ISO 200, f/8 to maintain a sufficient DOF, 1/500sec
Tripod at low level, levelling head & gimbal head
No crop
Nice setting and light. Sharp with a nice EXP. A vertical here might have solved the framing problems but it would have been close. Love the open bill of course. From your comments it seems that you have no more room top or bottom; is that correct? You needed a lot more room top and bottom....
Lastly, the chick is a bit over-sharpened.
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Your patience was rewarded with a nice shot, well exposed and sharp. I like the open mouth of the begging chick. As you and Arthur have mentioned it is tight top and bottom.
Thank you Arthur and Jack for your comments. Indeed, Arthur, the image is uncropped. I was stuck at 600mm with no time to remove the extender, as the action lasted just a few seconds. A vertical framing would have been very tight on the sides.
Oh man I wish you had more room above and below, but as you say this is full-frame. Still a very nice image, the chick is a huge plus. I love the details on the far wing. Nice clean rock too.