Taken when near 1/2 way across the Atlantic in mid January while crossing from UK towards the Caribbean on a long 65 day cruise which included a week within the Amazon (getting c900 miles up to Manaus). More of that for another month.
Flying fish is always fun but challenging to capture. Rule of thumb is that if a swarm fly (glide actually) away from the front of the ship, they are young and thus v small. One wants the bigger more individual ones which also can glide further. The longer one sets one’s zoom lens, the narrower the view obviously but as a micro4/3 user, cropping deeply into an image which full-frame photographers on board can do doesn’t work for me - so both patience and hoped-for better technique gives me a chance - about 30% success in at least getting the fish in the frame!
So I decided to have my zoom set at near 300mm (max = 1,000mm with internal 1.25 converter set which I had here and this allows a very highly geared zoom movement). Settings here were 613mm, 1/1,600 at f5 ISO 200 after exp comp at -0.7.
This gave quite a dark image with the fish small, so in PP I first push the Raw file through Topaz Photo Ai to remove any noise, crop roughly then duplicate the pixels x2.
With a Tiff returned to Lightroom, I first developed it to the 2nd extra image here, to show the trail in the water - but then cropped further to result in the final image here, as it seemed sharp enough to give the fish more space in the frame.
10 comments posted
Richard Goldenberg
Adrian - Thanks for this extraordinary image and for including the two originals. Very interesting to see the intermediate step between the original and final. The tonal similarity between the fish's body and the water, and that the fish stands out so well from the background is magical. And seeing the water spray and the trail that the fish's tail cuts in the water is just delightful. Posted: 02/05/2025 02:29:36
Adrian Binney
Many thanks Richard for your detailed comments Posted: 02/09/2025 02:21:12
Dr Isaac Vaisman
Adrian, indeed a great capture. They are very fast. Image is sharp even after this magnum crop, and the colors are outstanding. Posted: 02/08/2025 20:07:11
Adrian Binney
Thanks Isaac! Posted: 02/09/2025 02:20:02
Cindy Marple
(Groups 67 & 91)
Wow Adrian, I'm so impressed with this. I've tried to capture flying fish before with zero luck. What a beautiful shot. Posted: 02/09/2025 01:04:17
Adrian Binney
Cindy - Many thanks for visiting 72 and your comments! Posted: 02/09/2025 02:19:31
Bruce Benson
Adrian, Wow, what a nice image, sharp, brilliant color, great action, well composed, what more can you ask? Bruce Posted: 02/19/2025 18:57:19
Adrian Binney
Thank you! Posted: 02/21/2025 16:08:42
Maria Mazo
Hi Adrian, this is such a beautiful image! I like the crop you've done, and the composition with the fish and the water is very dynamic. The light colors in the bird make it stand out nicely in the image. Posted: 02/20/2025 00:37:57
