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alanpeterson
Gentoo With Chick
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p_eileenbaltz May 12, 2017
Brilliant work......can't stop looking at this!
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Alwolfe November 02, 2017
What an awesome capture!
 
davidparkhurst February 28, 2018
Very good
 
annmor March 01, 2018
Brilliant shot! Congratulations on the well deserved awards and good luck in the future! Best regards!
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Kristina_Krause March 01, 2018
What a beautiful shot!
 
Litt March 02, 2018
Awesome capture!
 
KUsKadizsha March 02, 2018
Beautiful & adorable! Awesome capture!
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Flokiteashusky April 11, 2018
Cute :)
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marcbaechtold May 13, 2018
nice work! Some nice colors and good contrast, keep shooting!
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Alfredo_Jose May 19, 2018
Beautiful shot!
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susieclark July 05, 2018
Stunningly Anazing!
 
Julia_137 July 19, 2018
Great picture! Come and check out a few of mine some time 😄🙌🏻
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LifeForcePhotography November 17, 2018
What an amazing capture! Beautiful! Congratulations!
 
keepclicking November 21, 2018
Absolutely stunning picture. Massive congratulations.
 
Mspower December 10, 2018
Motherly love

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May, 2017
uploaded

Gentoo With Chick



As a Gentoo Penguin chick wakes up from a nap, its parent bends over for a feeding.
Tags
#gentoo penguin#Penguin Chick#penguin#birds#animal#wildlife#nature#antarctica
Camera: NIKON D500
Aperture: f/8
ISO: 320
Shutter Speed: 1/2500
Focal Length: 4200/10

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Awards

Won Contest Finalist in Celebrating Nature Photo Contest Vol 5November, 2018
Won FeaturedApril, 2018
Won Staff FavoriteFebruary, 2018

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Behind The Lens

Location
These penguins were nesting at Port Lockroy on the Antarctic Peninsula. Several Gentoo Penguins (and a handful of seabirds) gather on glacier-smoothed hills during the summer to build nests out of pebbles.
Time
This photo was taken around 3pm, although that means something very different in Antarctica during January than it does in most parts of the world. With the summer sun setting around 11pm, the mid-afternoon sun was harsh and still at a fairly high angle.
Lighting
Only natural light is at work in this image.
Equipment
This was taken with a Nikon D500 and a Sigma 120-300mm zoom with a 1.4X teleconverter, handheld. There were strict weight and size restrictions for baggage on the flight over Drake's Passage that prevented me from taking a larger lens, but most Antarctic wildlife is comfortable enough around humans that the smaller of my telephoto zooms worked out pretty well.
Inspiration
The close bond between penguin parents and their young hatchlings is part of what makes their survival in this harsh climate possible. I set out to capture an image that would illustrate this bond.
Editing
Aside from basic color balance adjustments and cropping for composition, there was a fair amount of shadow recovery done on this shot. Working in the harsh light with snow and white feathers in fame required shooting at low ISO settings, exposing to protect highlight detail and recovering shadows in post.
In my camera bag
My Antarctica kit included a Nikon D500, a Sigma 120-300mm zoom, a Tamron 24-70mm zoom, a 1.4X teleconverter, a polarizing filter, a Joby sling strap, a dry bag and several batteries.
Feedback
It usually takes a significant amount of waiting to capture parent-chick interaction at a nest, so patience is definitely a virtue (and a monopod is helpful for those who don't like handholding a lens for extended periods of time). Nesting penguins begin to exhibit a stress reaction when people approach within 5 meters, so bring a lens that will allow you to comfortably work at that range or longer (something in the 400mm range on a crop sensor is sufficient to capture plenty of detail).

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