My last penguin shot - promise, for a while anyway, as I hope to be at the Falklands again in February. This was January 2023. There was a large group of kings mostly huddled together and those mothers with young were inevitably not near the edge! So I tried to take some mother & child shots when ever the ‘herd’ moved slightly to enable a photograph - then of course, the mother/child had to be doing something interesting!
So I didn’t get many, but this is one with reasonable clarity what is going on. The baby must have been very young.
Settings - 1/800 f8 ISO200 after -3/4 stop compensation to protect the white areas - at 406mm (so 812mm FF) using my Olympus wildlife kit inc 150-400 f4.5 lens. In PP I cropped as much as I dared from the left, but didn’t have much room from the right. I lifted the shadows via masks.
9 comments posted
Cindy Marple
(Groups 67 & 91)
Hi Adrian, Persistence paid off getting a reasonably clear shot of this interaction. The crop is effective. Nice job recovering the detail in the shadows.
I had the good luck to also see young chicks there several years ago- I think the colony may have been smaller then. There was one very newly hatched chick (the eggshell was near) and it wasn't much smaller than the one here. So I'd guess this one is days or at most a couple of weeks old. Very special encounter, well captured. Posted: 10/05/2025 23:38:27
Adrian Binney
Thank you Cindy - software really helps now. I didn't see any eggshells - i dont know what happens to them. Posted: 10/13/2025 11:53:41
Dr Isaac Vaisman
Adrian, perfect shot of mother and chick interaction, feeding the baby. The mother regurgitates the food and gives it to the little one. Patients and moving around pays off. Of course, we have no control over the light. Posted: 10/10/2025 19:01:40
Adrian Binney
Thanks Isaac. Posted: 10/13/2025 11:54:27
Maria Small
Hi Adrian - what stands out to me in your lovely image is how effectively you recovered the details of the baby. This is a growth area for me in my PP that I continue to work on. Your image also drives the point to me that cropping skillfully makes such a difference in composition. Thank you. Posted: 10/10/2025 19:43:05
Adrian Binney
Thanks Maria - I find I'm lifting the shadows more and more often recently, sometimes rescuing detail using a bit of Dehaze Posted: 10/13/2025 11:56:46
Maria Small
Thanks for the tips, Adrian. Posted: 10/21/2025 19:06:06
Richard Goldenberg
Another fantastic image Adrian! Posted: 10/20/2025 10:38:55
Maria Mazo
Hi Adrian,
The baby is really small, it must be almost newly born! Lovely shot that beautifully showcases the tender moment of a mum feeding its chick, and you've enhanced the scene nicely with your cropping. Posted: 10/21/2025 11:50:30
