Look into my eyes
This has always been one of my favourite Gannet photo's, as the eyes take centre stage, rather than a side on profile that's all beak....
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This has always been one of my favourite Gannet photo's, as the eyes take centre stage, rather than a side on profile that's all beak.
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Mar, 2014Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photograph was taken on a trip to Flamborough Head on England's north east coast, famous for it's Gannet colonies that nest on the steep cliffs. It's a windswept stretch of coastline, but stunning and the birds swoop up from below and then play with the wind at cliff top level. They seem to just do it for fun.Time
Despite knowing the advice all professional photographers will tell you about just after dawn, or just before dusk, I rarely heed this advice. Like the majority of my photo's, this was taken shortly before mid-day and yet again, I've got away with it.Lighting
I have little doubt that lighting plays a huge part in certain styles of photography, landscapes in particular. But you shouldn't get hung up about it. Many of my more popular shots have been taken at un-fashionable times of day and it's not done me any harm. If you can 'shoot' when the light is more vivid great, but I don't let it rule my holidays and photo trips.Equipment
The shot was taken hand held, using a Sony A380 camera with a Sony 75 - 300 lens, nothing else. Most of my photography is stripped down and un-complicated by equipment.Inspiration
When I take wildlife shots, I'm always on the lookout for a shot that's a different prespective to the one we usually see. Gannets have pretty long beaks and are generally shown 'side on' to show the beak. Well I kind of wanted a passport style photo that focused on the eyes. I hadn't given much thought to how a head on shot would foreshorten the beak, so I've gotta say that the resulting shot is still one of my very favorites.Editing
The only post-processing I did was to crop away some of the blank space and the cliff edge. I'm not a great fan of messing around with Photoshop too much. To my mind, photography is a discipline that captures a scene as it was, for jogging a memory. Post-processing is another completely different discipline that creates something entirely different and is sometimes used to fool the viewer. So sorry to all those 'creators' of images, yep they often have a wow factor which I too admire, but not my style.In my camera bag
I have a dreadful tendency to travel light, so what's round your neck? is a more accurate question than what's in my bag. Yes I fall foul of my lazyness more often than I care to mention ie "Blast, should've brought the other lens". When my wife convinces me to carry a bag, it'll have a spare fully charged battery, ND grad filters, a Sony 18-55, a Sony 75-300 and a Sigma 500mm lens, a chocolate bar and a bottle of water.Feedback
Think outside the box is what I tell myself. Wildlife photo's are often without intrigue and kind of what you expect to see. So I might have seen 100's of Gannet photo's, sleek, slender, diving machines with an amazing beak, but what haven't I seen, one like this one. So be familiar with your subject if you can and take a moment to imagine something different about and go for it.
