Guilliemot in flight

One more from this week.

Again id value crit on this, i know the subject is a little close to the top of the frame, this is uncropped

D3S
400MM F/2.8
1/1600TH
F/4.8
ISO 1250
-0.3 EC
Aperture Priority
Centre Weighted Metering

Mounted on Gitzo Tripod and Wimberley Head MKII

Thanks

Andy

I think you'll find this is a Black Guillemot Andy - as indicated by the red feet, black underside and white wingpatch.
As for the image itself, it looks a little OOF around the head to me and, as you say, is tight at the top - given the nature of the background you could easily add some canvas to the top.
I do like the colouring and overall effect though - a very nice effort

I agree with Jeff Andy, at this size it doesn't appear sharp, nice space for the bird to fly into but perhaps too much dead space on the rhs.

I agree, a little more canvas top and left, with some of the right removed. A shame it isn't a little sharper - but black guillemots in flight are not an easy subject.

David

I agree with the above comments. That said I would never achieve an image like this....vertigo is not nice lol.

Fran

thanks for the honest crit and feedback again guys. i've had another look at this full size and whilst the body is sharp the head isnt but then shooting F/4.8 it would be tricky to get the whole bird in focus. Would people recommend stopping down to F/5.6 or more next time?

As for adding Canvas, i don't know how i would do so. Also i'm not sure that adding things to an image that wasnt there to begin with is the right thing to do

Hi Andy, I'd say at least f/6.3 or more for a bird of this size - if you can get away with it given the available light, dark background, etc but obviously you'd have to compensate by boosting your ISO and/or reducing shutter speed, though you'd probably get away with much less than 1/1600th sec for a shot like this.
As for adding canvas, difficult to know what to say really without knowing what processing software you're using but it's fairly straightforward in, say, PS Elements.
On the ethics point of adding canvas -

"I'm not sure that adding things to an image that wasnt there to begin with is the right thing to do"

- it's a fairly widely used technique Andy and, as long as you're honest with your viewing audience, why not?
In any case, it's not that you're adding something that wasn't there - I'm sure there was plenty more cliff face above/beside the bird - you just didn't get it in the frame

Thats a fair point Jeff i guess its the same as using captive subjects, providing you say from the start the subject is captive.

As for editing i use PSE8 though i will need to find something to edit the Nikon RAW files as PSE8 says it will not open them

Hi Andy

if PSE 8 is not opening NEFs you may need an updated driver for the D3s
the latest version is Camera Raw ver 6.1

this is the link HTH

http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=4730