The image is one thing. What then happened is another.

[Donald]

Capturing this image preceded an afternoon of high drama on Kingsbarns Beach in Fife on 28th October.

After I left Maggie's Centre in Dundee, I headed across the River Tay. I had the camera in the car and pointed myself towards Kingsbarns Beach, which is close to St Andrews (yep, the home of golf). It was gloriously dramatic as, hopefully, this pic goes some way to show.

But as I walked down onto the beach I could see a young bird in trouble. It could hardly move and was in danger of being washed out to sea by the incoming tide. It was a young Gannet and was absolutely exhausted. I didn't know if it was also injured. I managed to lift it up the beach and into some long grass, so that it wouldn't be swept out to sea, and awaited the animal rescue service, whom I had called.

Well, two hours later (I couldn't leave it as dogs were regularly running along and could have gone for it), I was absolutely soaked and cold. That's when the rescue officer arrived. She very efficiently got it into the back of her vehicle and headed off. What an afternoon!

[Shadowman]

Nicely captured, interesting encounter.

[Rebel]

Another great image Donald, I can feel the atmosphere, feels like a storm is coming!

[Manfred M]

High drama on the beach. Hopefully the gannet is on its way to recovery.

An interesting image and story all in one posting. My only question is the sky. Is that how it looked or did you add a gradient?

[Donald]

An interesting image and story all in one posting. My only question is the sky. Is that how it looked or did you add a gradient?

I've put in a gradient, Manfred.

[Mike Buckley]

Wonderful composition and narrative!

Perhaps it's nothing other than an optical illusion, but the toning appears to be a tad stronger in about the middle third of the sky. The longer I carefully study it, the more I think it's an optical illusion. So, I mention it just in case you want to check for the possibility of a post-processing error.

[Donald]

Perhaps it's nothing other than an optical illusion, but the toning appears to be a tad stronger in about the middle third of the sky. The longer I carefully study it, the more I think it's an optical illusion.

Thank you, Mike. I wonder if that impression is given because of the inclusion of the border shading (gradient) at the top?

I apply toning with Silver Efex Pro. So, it's a case of choosing the tone and dialling in the percentage in terms of strength. It should come out evenly across the image.

[Rita]

Another stunning image. I like the inclusion of the steps, gives a feeling that I would like to go down them and explore.

[Brownbear]

An especially beautiful image, accompanied by a beautiful story. Not sure which is more beautiful!

[Mike Buckley]

I apply toning with Silver Efex Pro. So, it's a case of choosing the tone and dialling in the percentage in terms of strength. It should come out evenly across the image.

I'm reasonably confident that depends on a combination of five settings -- Silver Hue, Silver Toning, Balance, Paper Hue and Paper Toning. I don't remember the relationships between them or the impact each setting has, so you surely have a better handle on all of that than I do. Even so, you might want to check to make sure all of those settings are as you want them.

[NorthernFocus]

Great image and story, Donald. I love walking on the beach in a storm. Makes me grateful that I'm walking by the sea and not floating upon it.

[deetheturk]

Another cracker Donald, and a great tale to go with it, well done mate if only there were more people like yourself!

[Donald]

Thank you again, to the posters above.

Another cracker Donald, and a great tale to go with it, well done mate if only there were more people like yourself!

Thanks, David. When she saw it, the SSPCA Officer reckoned it didn't have that long to go if it had been left. What I didn't say above was that once I had lifted it up the beach into the grass and sheltered from the wind, it looked around for a couple of minutes and then buried its head in its wing and fell very soundly asleep. It was only being able to see its breathing that told me it was still alive.

[jacsul]

Great image and story! Thanks for sharing...

[Tronhard]

To me this is a strong photo in its own right, but the backstory adds a totally different dimension.... I can feel the ocean spray, the fresh wind and smell the salt air. It is one of my own themes: namely that to get the full value of some photos it is important to know its context. Why a photo was taken, under what conditions... It's a great photo and a great context. Thank you for sharing both.

[bnnrcn]

What an image ! Beautiful Donald IMO what Mike mentioned is related to your gradient effect rather than the toning. May be you should re-adjust the strength and the transition of the gradient.

[IzzieK]

I too like the story behind it and the image shows its own story in itself, by itself...my feeling exactly as Rita (+1) but the spray of the mist on my face would have held me back...and stay just there looking and just photographing this beautiful scene which you captured so welll...

[Dave Humphries]

I'm with Izzie on Rita's suggestion about going down to explore the beach - I think I'd wait for a calmer day


Great shot Donald, I think the positioning of the two most prominent white caps, left and right - IOW, not directly in front of the steps - helps the eye travel in to the composition.

I wonder;

Do you wait for such wave occurrences to happen?
Or do you shoot multiple shots and pick the best in PP? (my approach in a similar situation)

Thanks, Dave

PS Well done on Gannet rescue, let's hope it survived and is released soon.

[Donald]

Dave

Do you wait for such wave occurrences to happen?

I try. Once I get the overall composition set up then, yes, I am certainly looking at the waves. The moment of firing the shutter is based upon that.

Or do you shoot multiple shots and pick the best in PP? (my approach in a similar situation)

I'd certainly have more than one frame. But I do check the back screen and feel that when I've got what I want, I stop. Just looked back at the RAWS and this was the 3rd of 3 frames of this composition.

I wrote before that what I am loving about my 5DS is that you can set both the viewfinder and the back screen (for LiveView shooting) to a variety of formats, including square. So I am looking through the viewfinder at a square composition. In the past there was a degree of guesswork involved, albeit small. So, with this one, I was looking at the waves and seeing them in the format of my planned finished image.