Double-crested Cormorant
captured by D5 / 800mm w/ TC-1.25x
Many, many, many years ago I got a photo of the magnificent blue eye of the breeding Double-crested Cormorant. It was back in the days of film and I needed an extension tube on my 800mm to get physically close enough to make the shot. I’ve always liked that photo because with that magnificent blue eye they get during spring, the Double-crested Cormorant is really cool. The rest of the year, not so much. So whenever I’m around them in spring now, I’m always going after that blue eye trying to make a better photo then I already have in my files. Above you can see that blue eye that is just crazy cool. Both of these photos are of the same cormorant taken just a week ago, D5 / 800mm w/TC-1.25x.
Double-crested Cormorant
captured by D5 / 800mm w/ TC-1.25x
I had a very preconceived idea what I wanted to see in the viewfinder in my “better” eye photo. First, I needed to see the eye and I wanted to see just the eye. Next, I wanted to see the crazy pattern in the black plumage that comes only when it’s in full, nasty sun. But I didn’t want the eye in nasty light, it needs soft light. I want to see the whole eye and want it looking back at me. Lastly, I wanted just a touch of the yellow of the mandible to bring the mind’s eye to the blue eye. I didn’t get close to seeing in the viewfinder what I was envisioning, you see here what I did get. What you don’t see is my standing there, and standing there and standing there waiting for “the” moment to appear in my viewfinder. The cormorant kept adjusting itself over and over and over. Sometimes preening, other times just adjusting its head. And every time I would rip off frames trying to get the one shot. The thing is, it’s really not an amazing shot. The criteria I had set for myself to make the better shot, bettering what I already had wasn’t meet from the get go. The light really sucked but I was wrapped up in getting that shot so I ignored that criteria. That’s until something came over me to ask, “What are you doing?” That’s when I came to my senses and moved on. Ever get so tied up with a photo that you forgot, the photo? I do that all too often to this day. So when it comes to adding definitions to what is a professional, one has to be, know when to bail!