Common Loon

[Raymond Lee]

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Shot around end of April of this year at Beaumaris Lake, Edmonton, AB, Canada.

Canon EOS 7D | Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS + Kenko 1.4x Teleplus PRO 300 DGX + Canon Extender EF 1.4x II.
Manual mode, 1/1250 sec., f/7.1, ISO 640, handheld against the viewing platform guardrail. Late afternoon sunlight above and behind my back.

All C&Cs are welcome!

Thanks,
Raymond

[John Rowell]

A nice capture, I like the pose as it really shows the pattern in the back and wing feathers. Also, the head angle makes for good presentation. Looks like you might need some CCW rotation. Overall, the image appears somewhat dull. A curves layer and some shadow/highlight adjustments would perk this right up and offer a lot more detail in the darker feathers.

[Randy Stout]

Raymond:

Thanks for the teaser. I am looking forward to the loon season in Michigan, but as of last week we still had ice on some of the northern lakes!

Well exposed with nice display of the ribbing on the breast, iridescence of the head. On my monitor the eye looks just a sliver brighter than usual, but it does vary some based on lighting.

Pretty good DOF, as it is often hard on rump on shots like this to get the entire bird in the plane of focus.

If mine, I might lower the luminosity of the water a bit.

Cheers

Randy

[Andy Shepherd]

Very good image with a great reflection, Raymond...I also like the ripple that is radiating from around the Loon.

[Karl Egressy]

Nice calm water, nice head turn and reflection, Raymond.

[Raymond Lee]

Took John's and Randy's suggestions. Rotated the image at about -1.15°. Added a curve layer to add a bit of brightness to the back of the Loon and lower the luminosity of the water.

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Thanks,
Raymond

[Daniel Cadieux]

Nice calm water here, and you got a perfect lookback head turn to go with the back pose. I too like the faint water ring around the subject. Rotation nicely corrected in the repost.