It's a plane!

Gallery: AvianPosted January 27, 2012211 views9 comments

Canon EOS 7D
EF400mm f/5.6L USM
1/17/2012 – 10:46:30 AM
1/2000 sec
Manual
f/5.6
ISO 400
Manual
Viera Wetlands
Raw, LR3, CS5, cropped to 58% of FF but then didn't like the crop later on (not in the same session) so added an inch of canvas back to the right side

These two cormorants were watching a plane flying over. :)

Cormorants are another bird I find difficult to photograph well. I have a different image that I like of a black one, but there is chromatic aberration along the top of the bill in that image.

I don't know why these two are not black. Juveniles, maybe?

I don't know why there is that whitish patch of feathers on the one on the left.

I don't know if this is a male and a female.

I had trouble (see above) with the comp on this one.

I like seeing the feet of the one on the right.

I like that there are two.

I like the green in between them.

Comments, opinions and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

Comments

9 comments

Comment posted by Rob Graham on January 27, 2012 at 2:51 PM

Barbara, I would guess that these are immature cormorants based on the light body color and one guide book I have mentions that juveniles can have the white strip. I won't try and guess between Double-crested and Neotropic for species since I haven't seen any Neotropics except in the summer of 2007.

I like the pose and the perch in the photo. Nice look at the feet. On a personal level when editing a photo, I leave the cropping to the very end, and not on the master file so as to avoid having to do what you did here.

Registered on August 22, 2006, 842 Posts, 2824 Comments

Comment posted by Howard Cheek on January 27, 2012 at 5:28 PM

Good call on adding the bit of canvas RT, it gives them more space to look into and balanced it.
Like the green veg center, it adds some needed color.
Great that you have both a front and side as well.
Nice job Barbara

Registered on July 24, 2008, 1201 Posts, 10758 Comments

Comment posted by Harry Harris on January 28, 2012 at 8:41 AM

Barbara, I think you handled the composition very well. I love the perch and the pose with the Cormorants looking to the upper right. Very good exposure capturing the details in the dark feathers. Love this image.

Registered on August 2, 2010, 169 Posts, 741 Comments

Comment posted by scott lanz on January 28, 2012 at 11:13 AM

Excellent image. I particularly like the pose and the greenery in between the birds.

Registered on November 14, 2003, 840 Posts, 12902 Comments

Comment posted by Jaymes Dempsey on January 28, 2012 at 1:51 PM

Barbara,
I think this comp works fine, they both are looking into some space...
I really like their poses and head turns. Good exposure, too.
Good capture,
Jaymes

Registered on June 28, 2010, 47 Posts, 590 Comments

Comment posted by Brian Gatlin on January 28, 2012 at 6:12 PM

nice comp, Barbara, and I also like the greenery between the birds and the interesting perch. I agree that they are a tough species to photograph well--the only shots I have that I really like are portraits showing that great eye.

they are immature birds. I'm not aware of any way to determine sex.

Registered on March 21, 2009, 202 Posts, 4187 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Bielefeld on January 29, 2012 at 11:08 AM

This is really nice Barbara. The green inbetween makes this image much stronger IMO. I like you choice of comp for this shot.

Registered on December 6, 2008, 360 Posts, 7132 Comments

Comment posted by Charles Gangas on January 29, 2012 at 6:38 PM

Adding the canvas certainly helped with the balance of the image Barbara. I like the poses of each bird and the fact they are both focused on the distant object. I agree these are difficult species to shot, and I think you did very well here.

Registered on August 12, 2009, 544 Posts, 2414 Comments

Comment posted by Albert Darmo on January 29, 2012 at 10:23 PM

Hi Barbara

I love the perch of these Cormorants ! The added canvas adds to the scene. A fine capture

Albert Darmo
Canada

Registered on November 25, 2008, 1386 Posts, 11978 Comments