Riding with mom

[Paul Kammen]

Loon chicks recently hatched on area lakes, and had the chance to get out to take some photos. Wasn't sure what white balance to go with in RAW, it was towards sunset, so I went cloudy for a little warmth.

This was with my 7DII and 100-400II lens, ISO 400, 1/6000 f5.6

[Alex Becker]

Really lovely scene and interaction capture Paul. I love the pose of the parent and the chicks especially. Is 1/6000 right? If so I think going 1/3200 and f/8 would have been better to get more DOF on the chicks. I think the WB is too warm as some of the whites on the back are yellow. I would also clone out the seaweed behind the parents head and in the upper left and run some NR on the background. Also trying to tone down the highlights on the chest. TFS, some small tweaks could help a lot.

[Isaac Grant]

Good critique by Alex. The scene is very nice but all of the elements are not lining up. The parent and both babies are great. The plants in the water are distracting, the whites are too yellow, there is too much space below the birds. I would go back and try this one again as it could be really good.

[Paul Kammen]

Thank you. As it is I was out for a few hours, and have many images to choose from - it was hard to know if I should have a background or not, and what white balance setting to choose. Thanks for the tips.