Papua New Guinea stamp
Papua New Guinea stamp - First day cover
I have slowly been getting through my Midway images. I know, it is now nearly three months since I was there! There is no particular theme or linkage between the following images but the first two have a moody feel to them.
As you will know by now, I love to show animals in the context of their environment so here are two such images. The first shows a Laysan Albatross silhouetted in flight against an orange coloured sunset sky with swirling dark clouds on the top and bottom of the frame.
Laysan Albatross silhouetted in flight against orange hued, sunset sky and dark swirling clouds
The second shows tree branches that had become embedded in the sand on the beach of the main island – probably during the tsunami that washed over large parts of Midway on March 12 (more on this in an upcoming blog), a month before I visited. To take this image, I placed a camera with a wide-angled lens in the sand, close to the branches. I attached a cable release to the camera and an angle finder to the view finder. I then waited for an Albatross to fly into the frame. In this particular image, a slightly blurry, Red-Tailed Tropic bird can also be seen. You will also notice that the clouds on the right hand side of the image have a distinct green cast. This has nothing to do with poor image processing. Rather it is the result of the aqua-emerald green (I think I’ve just invented a new colour) lagoon water reflecting onto the clouds.
- Embedded dead tree branches on beach with flying Laysan Albatross and Red-Tailed Tropic bird in the background
I’m always fascinated by the interaction between the adult Albatrosses and their chicks on Midway. One or both of the parents will disappear for up to three weeks, often flying thousands of miles to forage and feed on squid in the vast expanses of the North-East Pacific. The chicks are often left alone during these periods without food or liquid and many are precariously positioned in areas of the atoll where they must bear the full force of the elements. When the parent(s) does return, the chicks are usually ravenously hungry and desperate for their parent to regurgitate the digested squid that they have consumed over the previous days and weeks. In an effort to regurgitate, the parents will sometimes attack a neighboring, unguarded chick belonging to another adult Albatross. This merciless pecking looks exceedingly cruel but the victims do not seem to be physically any the worse for wear after their ordeal while it seems that the activity and adrenaline created by the attack makes it easier for the parent to regurgitate.
Adult Laysan Albatross touching bills with its chick, Sand Island, Midway Atoll, USA
Adult laysan Albatross feeding its chick with regurgitated squid, Sand Island, Midway Atoll, USA
Moving away from Midway, I have spent a bit of time playing around with montages, ie blending images together using various blending modes and then running the images through one or more of the filters found in Nik’s Colour Efex Pro. The following is my favourite to date. This is a blend of two images. The first, a blue coloured wall shot in Valparaiso, Chile and the second, a group of three Andean Flamingos feeding on Lake Chaxa in Northern Chile. With apologies to Artie Morris, I guess you can call this birds as art or in this case, Flamingos as art.
Flamingos as art
Virginia Gray
July 13, 2011
I love these images! The albatross has a very beautiful visage which you have captured very well.
Virginia
Gordon Lindsay
July 13, 2011
Beautifuly detailed studies of the Albatros and chick, I like the Flamingoes as art image as is but would be interested to see the orginal too.
Paul Mckenzie
July 14, 2011
Thanks Virginia. Hope all is well your end and your illustrations are going well. Paul
jattinn kochhar
July 15, 2011
congratulations! this is awesome…
Dick Kain
July 22, 2011
I especially liked the picture showing the feeding process. It make me wonder how you god such good light and background, or was the background courtesy of Photoshop manipulations. In any case, very great result!
Paul Mckenzie
September 6, 2011
No photoshop manipulation on the dark green background which is a forest of Ironwood trees. Using a 300mm telephoto lens and being close to the subject with the background far away rendered the background a uniform dark green.
A Creative Adventure/denise ippolito
August 16, 2011
Love the Flamingo image very much!!
Paul Mckenzie
September 6, 2011
Thx Denise – definitely a complement coming from the master of “out of the box” images!