NikonGear'23

Travelogues => Travel Diaries => Topic started by: Anthony on January 30, 2016, 12:10:22

Title: Imperial Shag collecting for nest
Post by: Anthony on January 30, 2016, 12:10:22

It seems to have had very specific requirements.

Title: Re: Imperial Shag collecting for nest
Post by: Mike G on January 30, 2016, 12:15:25

Very nice Anthony

Title: Re: Imperial Shag collecting for nest
Post by: Jan Anne on January 30, 2016, 12:39:10

Very nice series Anthony but the first is one simply awesome, the action, the pose, the small DOF with a hint of snow (or foam) in the background are very well done.

That said I don't like the light, the bird is backlit which looses some nice details on the front of the bird with the current processing.

Instead of talking about it I took the liberty to pull your image through CNX2 and use the Color Control Point feature to lift the greens of the seaweed and the blues of the eye for a more balanced image. The images might look a bit overcooked now but thats because I had to work with the small JPG but you should get the idea :)

Title: Re: Imperial Shag collecting for nest
Post by: Anthony on January 30, 2016, 20:43:18

Mike, Jan Anne, thank you.

Jan Anne, your edit is an improvement.  I will go back to the nef and re-edit.  I was nervous about overdoing the extraordinary blue of the eye, because nature is so much more powerful than Photoshop, but your edit shows that I can be a bit bolder and still fairly present that blue as it really was.

The background is snow.

Title: Re: Imperial Shag collecting for nest
Post by: elsa hoffmann on January 30, 2016, 21:15:19

Quite a beautiful bird - I have never seen anything like that.
Beautiful captures and JA's edit is good for me too.

Title: Re: Imperial Shag collecting for nest
Post by: Anthony on January 31, 2016, 12:34:23

Thank you Elsa.  It is a type of cormorant.  The blue eyes are a lovely feature.

Title: Re: Imperial Shag collecting for nest
Post by: elsa hoffmann on January 31, 2016, 12:49:41

Now that you mention it - I can see its Cormorant of some sorts. Thanks for the info

Title: Re: Imperial Shag collecting for nest
Post by: BW on February 12, 2016, 20:19:18

Lovely birds! Where are these photos taken? Never seen the bird before.

Title: Re: Imperial Shag collecting for nest
Post by: Anthony on February 13, 2016, 14:46:12

Thanks, Børge, glad you like it.

The location was Half Moon Island, South Shetland Islands, part of Antarctica.

I have updated my edit to reflect JA's ideas, but have not posted the revised version here.

Title: Re: Imperial Shag collecting for nest
Post by: BW on February 13, 2016, 17:30:22

Looking forward to seeing more pictures from that part of the world :)

Title: Re: Imperial Shag collecting for nest
Post by: Anthony on February 14, 2016, 00:31:36

More to come.  In the meantime, you can see some more by searching penguins on this site.

Title: Re: Imperial Shag collecting for nest
Post by: Richard A on February 16, 2016, 08:47:48

That blue eye is really something special

Title: Re: Imperial Shag collecting for nest
Post by: Erik Lund on February 16, 2016, 14:18:41

Really nicely crisp and I like the framing.

I'm with JA on this, and I would even brighten the whole exposure up and then just pull the darkest parts down again in RAW

Title: Re: Imperial Shag collecting for nest
Post by: Anthony on February 17, 2016, 00:23:06

Thanks, Richard and Erik.  I agree that the whole exposure can usefully be brightened.

Here is another, on a different island.