King Eiders

Daniel Stenberg · Jun 19, 2010

Photographed at Svalbard (arctic Norway) in the middle of the night, with a gorgeous midnight sun lighting up the arctic tundra landscape. I can asure you it was a magical night

D700, 600/4 VR, 1.4x TC on tripod.

The light spot in the background is a Purple Sandpiper.

Hope you enjoy it.

// Daniel

Axel Hildebrandt · Jun 19, 2010

Nice to have two in the frame. Sharpness, light and eye contact look good, too. At this time of year you probably have good light for a long time every day. I might crop a bit off the top.

Fabs Forns · Jun 19, 2010

Incredible to be able to photograph birds at night. Great getting the pair together and being able to see the huge difference between male and female. Thanks for sharing this, Daniel.

Alfred Forns · Jun 19, 2010

Sweet !!! Would take some from the top as suggested by Axel !! .. better proportion and larger in frame. Got both sharp !! Way to go Daniel .. what was the aperture?

Daniel Stenberg · Jun 19, 2010

Thanks for your comments and suggestions.

In this time of the year the arctic altitudes simply bathes in light 24/7, but it isn´t everyday the sun is out. In seven days we only had sun on one.

EXIF: f/11, ISO 800, 1/1000

// Daniel

Arthur Morris · Jun 19, 2010

Loverly birds and light. Nice to get the pair together. The sandpiper is a big distraction as it draws the viewer's eye. Same for the small shorebird (?) on the right. Lastly having the shoreline intersect the hen's head is less than ideal. And yes to some sort of pano crop.

Did you get any with blue water above both bird's heads?

Daniel Stenberg · Jun 19, 2010

Arthur Morris said:
Loverly birds and light. Nice to get the pair together. The sandpiper is a big distraction as it draws the viewer's eye. Same for the small shorebird (?) on the right. Lastly having the shoreline intersect the hen's head is less than ideal. And yes to some sort of pano crop.

Did you get any with blue water above both bird's heads?

Yes, I did get some pictures with water above their heads. But the pair are unfortunatly a bit separated in those.

The King Eiders at Svalbard were not as approachable as the other birds we photographed there. As you got in the range of 20-30 meters they swam away. So it was not easy to get resonably good shots on this species.

// Daniel

Arthur Morris · Jun 19, 2010

Thanks Daniel. Understood. When I came to Barrow several years ago, I dreamed of photographing this species. I never saw one. This year--I leave tomorrow, we were quite fortunate. I have posted several King Eiders both in this forum and on my blog at www.birdsasart-blog.com

King Eiders

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