Western Grebe

[Adhika Lie]

I am going through some old files and found this one from last year. Very slight crop from the UR corner for composition. I am kinda wishing for more canvas to the left to give some negative space but extending the canvas could be problematic with the ripples.

Let's see, I shot this with my old D90 which is pretty much useless to retain details after ISO 800. This is shot at 600mm, 1/1250, f/6.3, ISO 500. Even at that ISO, the noise are noticeable. I used Nik Dfine to clean up the noise on the water and then applied some field blur on the water to tone it down a little bit more.

As always, looking forward to your C&C :)

161133

[Glennie Passier]

Love this Adhika. You have already mentioned just a little more room on the LHS. I think a bloke with your talent could easily "fix" the ripples. I really like those little ripples in front of the bird. Do you think there could be a slight blue cast to his shadowy back on the LHS? I have learnt so much here Adhika, and casts are getting easier for me to pick because I tend to get a lot of them myself!

Great image!

[steve torna]

Hi Adhika, this is a very beautiful image, composition and I like the reflection. I wonder if you could bring up the exposure on his reflection?

[Adhika Lie]

Steve & Glennie, good suggestions! Really powerful ones. Here is a repost.

Glennie, I can't completely remove the blue cast without making it look weird. But you're right, the blue cast in the original was rather too strong. What do you think of this one?

161146

[steve torna]

Hey Adhika, the changes look great, good job!

[Diane Miller]

Outstanding!! What an amazing reflection! Sharpness, detail, great composition -- it's all here. I might crop a little off the top in this case -- just short of halfway to the head -- to reduce the symmetry.

[Glennie Passier]

Well done Adhika! Very subtle changes look great!

[Sandy Witvoet]

Love the RP! At first, I didn't think the reflection needed a bump... but, WOW! A bit off the top... Perfect! Lovely image!

[Anthony Thompson]

I can't really add anything that already hasn't been said.. I prefer the 2nd with the adjustments to the reflection exposure. Great image... I wish it was one of mine...