Puffin in Flight and Repost

Gallery: AvianPosted July 30, 20065,151 views48 comments

At the beginning of July I spent a week camping on the Treshnish Islands, Scotland and had a fantastic time messing about with Seabirds. I really wanted to get a shot of a puffin in flight and took over 2000 images just to get a couple of decent ones. They are so fast in flight and tracking them is fustrating but every now and then the autofocus locks on. Puffins are one of the nations favourite birds and after spending some time with them I can see why.

Canon EOS 1D MkII, 300mm Lens, F2.8, 1/2000, ISO rating 200

Thanks for looking, comments and critique welcome.

Danny

Comments

48 comments

Comment posted by Natasha Leong on July 30, 2006 at 10:58 AM

No nits from me-does it get any better???

Registered on May 19, 2005, 19 Posts, 49 Comments

Comment posted by Paul Fusco on July 30, 2006 at 11:15 AM

Great action, Danny!

- Paul

Registered on November 17, 2003, 283 Posts, 1163 Comments

Comment posted by Terry Sohl on July 30, 2006 at 11:18 AM

Hey, what else to say but...

Registered on November 1, 2003, 513 Posts, 6889 Comments

Comment posted by Gary Gulash on July 30, 2006 at 11:31 AM

Only thing I could suggest for improvement would be 3 fish in its mouth rather than 2, but that's minor

Registered on January 28, 2005, 879 Posts, 12098 Comments

Comment posted by Muhammad Zaid Wani on July 30, 2006 at 11:31 AM

This is me...

Superb shot, Danny!

Registered on August 18, 2005, 23 Posts, 1406 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Garber on July 30, 2006 at 11:53 AM

Very Nice!

Registered on November 17, 2003, 704 Posts, 3535 Comments

Comment posted by Garth McElroy on July 30, 2006 at 11:56 AM

Fantastic!!!

Registered on November 1, 2003, 248 Posts, 4406 Comments

Comment posted by Dan Walters on July 30, 2006 at 12:03 PM

Great shot!! I love the fish in the beak!

Registered on October 30, 2005, 405 Posts, 3693 Comments

Comment posted by Robert Royse on July 30, 2006 at 12:25 PM

Great one!

Registered on November 1, 2003, 218 Posts, 2427 Comments

Comment posted by Jay Martin on July 30, 2006 at 12:54 PM

Unbelievable! This is awesome!

Registered on December 6, 2005, 200 Posts, 2209 Comments

Comment posted by Colin Smale on July 30, 2006 at 1:00 PM

1000 to one, yep that sounds about right to get this quality. Great fun though and they breed in such great places. Not 100% sure about the legs, they look a tad red on my monitor.

Registered on November 10, 2003, 48 Posts, 1158 Comments

Comment posted by George Hall, Jr on July 30, 2006 at 1:30 PM

Great capture!

Registered on July 11, 2004, 283 Posts, 2395 Comments

Comment posted by Danny Green on July 30, 2006 at 2:02 PM

Hello Colin

It could be my monitor as it has not been calibrated so maybe the colours are wrong.

Thanks everyone for your nice comments

Danny

Registered on November 27, 2005, 70 Posts, 313 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Neiger on July 30, 2006 at 2:14 PM

Awesome image! Well done!

Registered on July 9, 2004, 294 Posts, 202 Comments

Comment posted by Mack Barham on July 30, 2006 at 2:27 PM

Hall of Fame material! Just AWESOME!

Registered on August 12, 2005, 537 Posts, 1107 Comments

Comment posted by John Chapman on July 30, 2006 at 3:16 PM

Hi Danny
a fantastic shot.
John Chapman
Aberdeen
Scotland.

Registered on June 19, 2004, 100 Posts, 1473 Comments

Comment posted by Graeme Guy on July 30, 2006 at 5:55 PM

Danny
Excellent. I feel like shifting it a bit to the left.
Graeme

Registered on January 19, 2004, 33 Posts, 438 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Archer on July 30, 2006 at 6:07 PM

WOW!!!

This is SMOKING!!!! Great job Danny!

Ken Archer

Registered on October 28, 2004, 222 Posts, 6683 Comments

Comment posted by Grace Blair on July 30, 2006 at 6:32 PM

OH! The diagonal position, direct focus on the camera, colors, sharpness, background are all wonderful!! I just love a great photo that tells a story, as this does to me. The only possible improvement would be to take off a small portion from the left as the bird is flying toward you rather than into the left side. SUPER JOB!

Registered on May 12, 2005, 127 Posts, 362 Comments

Comment posted by Bob Steele on July 30, 2006 at 7:06 PM

This is really excellent, man is that guy sharp. Very well done. I too would take a little off the left side to balance the composition.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 354 Posts, 13896 Comments

Comment posted by George Palagian on July 30, 2006 at 7:28 PM

Outstanding Danny, IMO a touch off the left, and this one goes way over the top.

Registered on March 3, 2006, 113 Posts, 1444 Comments

Comment posted by Ian Cameron on July 30, 2006 at 8:23 PM

Oooooh your puffin is better than my puffins. I'm not jealous, i'm not jealous, i'm not....

Registered on August 6, 2004, 1125 Posts, 3318 Comments

Comment posted by Neil Losin on July 30, 2006 at 8:28 PM

Hi Danny,

Very very cool! Perhaps the best puffin flight image I've seen. I can't think of anything to improve here, just great. Nice work!!

Registered on September 16, 2005, 145 Posts, 3524 Comments

Comment posted by Paul Mccroskey on July 30, 2006 at 8:52 PM

Totally Incredible

Registered on July 22, 2005, 8 Posts, 42 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on July 31, 2006 at 12:22 AM

Registered on February 1, 2006, 1158 Posts, 19528 Comments

Comment posted by Danny Green on July 31, 2006 at 4:24 AM

Thank you everyone for their very kind comments, a few people have suggested I take some off the left side to balance the image, so here is a repost.

Cheers

Danny

Registered on November 27, 2005, 70 Posts, 313 Comments

Comment posted by Juza on July 31, 2006 at 5:44 AM

Outstanding

Registered on November 1, 2003, 374 Posts, 10466 Comments

Comment posted by Hans Spiecker on July 31, 2006 at 8:35 AM

Worth the 2000 shots! We have seen lots of Puffin shots lately and this is the best!

Registered on March 23, 2006, 366 Posts, 4649 Comments

Comment posted by Krijn Trimbos on July 31, 2006 at 9:36 AM

This puffin flightshot is one of the best I have seen so far!! My only suggestion would be to desaturate the orange a bit. Otherwise brilliant!

Registered on October 18, 2005, 260 Posts, 2979 Comments

Comment posted by Glenn Bartley on July 31, 2006 at 11:21 AM

Incredible image and you even improved upon it in the repost. Sincere congrats on this one.

Registered on June 29, 2004, 448 Posts, 1180 Comments

Comment posted by W. Tracy Parnell on July 31, 2006 at 11:01 PM

Just fantastic and the repost is even better! Congrats!

Registered on March 4, 2004, 27 Posts, 1638 Comments

Comment posted by David Williams on August 1, 2006 at 11:01 AM

What a beauty, Danny!

Registered on March 8, 2005, 315 Posts, 2291 Comments

Comment posted by Jasper Doest on August 2, 2006 at 8:46 AM

Hi Danny, Excellent shot...I love the repost! Did you use any flash on this? The colorus really pop on this one...but I can't see how you did this without using flash. Excellent anyway!

Registered on November 1, 2003, 371 Posts, 2101 Comments

Comment posted by Danny Green on August 2, 2006 at 10:35 AM

Hello Jasper

No I didn't use flash, I liked the effect when I put the saturation at about 26+ just adding that splash of colour that the image was lacking.

Cheers

Danny

Registered on November 27, 2005, 70 Posts, 313 Comments

Comment posted by Tom Grey on August 2, 2006 at 12:40 PM

Truly fabulous shot, and the repost improves on the original!

I agree on desaturating the feet a bit -- I think you can still get that color splash effect with a little less.

Registered on December 2, 2003, 144 Posts, 2069 Comments

Comment posted by Tom Merigan on August 2, 2006 at 5:58 PM

As well as viewing this fanastic bird I've been to your website and I believe you are very dedicated to sea birds. I got one puffinl fight shot myself last month out of 100 taken at Faire Island,but it was at a distance. This shot with the great flight action and bringing in the Sand eels is outstanding.

Tom Merigan
Portola Valley,CA

Registered on April 24, 2006, 69 Posts, 751 Comments

Comment posted by Justin on August 2, 2006 at 6:10 PM

A top class image that oozes quality.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 106 Posts, 1697 Comments

Comment posted by Danny Green on August 4, 2006 at 5:22 AM

Hello Everyone

Thank you so much for your kind comments.

Danny

Registered on November 27, 2005, 70 Posts, 313 Comments

Comment posted by Patricia Brundage on August 4, 2006 at 6:52 AM

Wonderful image. Never tire of seeing puffins, their commical faces make me smile. I like the feel of the original post.

Registered on March 23, 2006, 1111 Posts, 6531 Comments

Comment posted by Marsel van Oosten on August 7, 2006 at 7:29 AM

Excellent shot. Trying to focus on these little beasties is a nightmare, but this one is perfect. I've seen shots of puffins standing still with fish in their beaks, but this is awesome. Congrats on the EP.

Registered on March 9, 2004, 285 Posts, 2277 Comments

Comment posted by Dan Walters on August 7, 2006 at 9:29 PM

Great shot! Congratulations on the pick!

Registered on October 30, 2005, 405 Posts, 3693 Comments

Comment posted by Leann Greene on August 7, 2006 at 10:10 PM

Amazing

Registered on January 25, 2006, 223 Posts, 3566 Comments

Comment posted by Søren Koch on August 9, 2006 at 4:00 PM

OUTSTANDING

Registered on March 30, 2006, 30 Posts, 42 Comments

Comment posted by Dhruba K Sapkota on August 10, 2006 at 3:20 PM

Very nice capture of flight with catch.

Dhruba K Sapkota
www.nature-photography.biz

Registered on November 20, 2003, 25 Posts, 345 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Goldstein on August 15, 2006 at 10:54 PM

Amazing shot. Well worth the effort even if that meant 2000 images.

Registered on March 18, 2006, 119 Posts, 878 Comments

Comment posted by Paul Breitkreuz on August 19, 2006 at 12:23 PM

Danny, many, many, well deserved excellent comments here on this shot. I think the redo for balance was an added plus for this amazing shot. The only thing I could add is how it is so obvious in viewing this image how mankind owes a lot to the animal world. This image demonstrates all to clearly how we copied bird flight for our aircraft designs. This view gives us a picture perfect upcoming landing with full flaps down, tail rutter movement, and landing gear deployed too! Just an excellent shot Danny!

Registered on February 25, 2006, 525 Posts, 8448 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Canning on August 26, 2006 at 9:47 PM

Awsome shot! Fish & Flight - Perfect! The banked angle adds nice drama.

Registered on February 10, 2004, 88 Posts, 549 Comments

Comment posted by Josh Gahagan on April 20, 2007 at 10:10 AM

A very impressive flight shot, Danny.

Registered on January 15, 2007, 16 Posts, 67 Comments