eyelaser wrote:
Awesome set Greg...this is definitely one critter I have to spend some time with! And thanks for the factoid...100,000,000 years is a long time...only Charlie was around back then and I bet he has some slides of the ancestor
Eric
Thanks, Eric. (Charlie's slides can be pretty informative!).
Karl Witt wrote:
Adorable subject Greg, hard not to fall in love with these guys and gals!
#1 Great depth, nice pose nice color
#2 you worked some difficult lighting very nicely here
#3 impressive DOF for this shot, way to get the 'two-fer' shot!
#4 Cormie is a cool shot, nice look to this one, chasing a bug You got a sensor spot in front of the beak too
#5 nice grouping, nice take off! Nice color and exposure
Really a fine job, IMO not sure why you choose ISO 1600 as the noise worked against you a bit, in general could use NR on these
Ah, thank you (again) for the careful and constructive crits, Karl!
NR, what's that? I have gotten in the somewhat unfortunate (and lazy) habit of using 1600 as a starting point, which one can get away with on the 5d3, a gentle crop, and a subject/background that is not so conducive to noise. Unfortunately, only one of those things applied in this case. I did fix the last shot (twice, actually, since I decided to play a bit with selective NR in photoshop), but you're right, had I thought about this while actually taking the shot, this whole conversation would have been moot! Next time.
Tim Kuhn wrote:
Very nice work Greg, I'm jealous! It's been years since I photographed Puffins and how I wish I was doing that again soon
You offer up a delightful set. The exposures are spot one and you worked the angles quite well. I do love the pose of 1, I might of cropped it a bit differently, more room left, less room right. A bit more sun to brighten the face would be perfect Go back and re-shoot! The angle and light on 2 is unique and very well executed. That isn't a shot for the weak of heart, not easy to pull off at all but you sure did! I think the Cormie in 4 is made he missed the bug. That or he's mad you missed the dust spec right in front of his lower bill. Otherwise excellent 5 is an odd shot to be honest, the dynamics of the flyer just having taken off make what would be an awkward shot work quite well. The last is wonderfully detailed, the wing position is a bit less than ideal, up or down works better for me. The body also has a bit of noise, otherwise a technical tour de force.
I have heard it said that Alcids are the Penguins of the Northern Hemisphere, whether or not that is true or some sort of exaggeration of the truth doesn't really matter, I like how it sounds
Thanks so much, Tim. If I had it to do all over again (and, perhaps I will since I'm trying to talk my family into a Scottish vacation next year), I would have scouted a position in which the birds received indirect light, which I think would have been quite possible (shadow of cliff with reflected light from opposite cliff face or water), but I was so anxious to get some images that I didn't bother walking around enough. Overhead sunlight is definitely challenging for these guys (gotta learn to love cloudy overcast skies).
After your NR comment, I went back (for a second time) to work on that last shot; it's better but not as good as it would have been at a lower iso.
And, yep, Alcids/auks share the same evolutionary adaptation as do penguins--stocky bodies with stubby wings, as an adaptation for diving, although the guillemots and murres are even more penguin like, since they can barely fly at all!
But those adaptations were acquired independently; kind of like wings on a bat, or VR on a nikon lens.
Stellar. I know it isn't cool or very manly to say, but these are the most adorable birds on the planet, IMO, and you really captured them nicely. The one on departure from his buddies on the rock, just outstanding. Very cool.
guillemots and murres are even more penguin like, since they can barely fly at all! Well...... I would argue that Pigeon Guillemots are excellent flyers. I have spent a LOT of time with them and will once again next week. I observe and photograph them during their mating rituals and some of the flying they do is beyond words. They swoop, dive, skim both land and water (I have shots of them scraping the sand with their wings) all as part of the mating dance. Now their landing technique is something quite different altogether, the just seem to stop flapping and belly flop quite ungracefully into the water or even crazier onto the land Hopefully I'll be showing some new shots of this in the coming weeks
Outstanding, interesting images. Excellent clarity, sharpness, and color. My favorite is "PuffinPair," but they're all in the favorite mix. I don't think the bright sunlight took anything away from these particular images.
