This is my first post on the Nature & Wildlife forum. I'm a sports shooter but I couldn't resist these guys. These were taken on the island of Mykines last year:
To give you a bit of background, the western end of the island is a huge puffin colony and you can get pretty close to them. I only wish I had taken something longer than the 70-200.
Saturation looks a bit heavy in that second one now - sorry.
I really like the first one. Lovely colors, one nit is the blur in the foreground, it takes away the smooth, soft feel of the picture for me. Nice work.
Welcome to nature's sport! These birds are wonderful and I can see why you couldn't resist. You had some tough light to work with causing some blowout, but they are nice nonetheless. I really like the bokeh color and smoothness. It makes them stand out nicely.
Tim - thanks, the first one is also my favourite. The foreground blur was unavoidable as I was crawling on the grass to get a bit closer & shooting at f2.8. The land falls away pretty sharply just beyond where they were sitting so I didn't really want them to back off too much or I'd have missed them completely.
AJ - Thanks. The light was harsh but unavoidable. The bokeh is nothing to do with me - it's those genius techies at Canon who created the 70-200/2.8 IS
Here's a wider shot of the colony. Those cliffs run down to the sea at 45 degrees and are full of Puffin burrows. And all those dots you can see in the sea - all Puffins.
