Yodeling in the fog - common loon

[Randy Stout]

This fellow was captured last week on a cold and foggy morning. Another loon was flying overhead, which usually gets a pretty impressive response from the resident male. He was too close to me, this is essentially full frame, just leveled.

D4 600mm VR. f/4.5. ISO 800. 1/1250s. Taken sitting on the bottom of my little boat.

Post: leveled, cleaned up a few spots in background, brightened the eye just a bit.

I know this is a bit different from my usual loon post, but I like to try for something different at times.

Advice and comments always appreciated.


Cheers

Randy

[annmpacheco]

Whoaaa I really like this Randy, the breath is mesmerizing as it dissolves into the fog. POV Rocks! Question: the whites have the color cast of the water etc, ... is it a preference thing to leave as is or? I am always trying to gain a better understanding and actually detect a cast as well. And the drop of water is also icing on the cake. Keep em coming.

[Randy Stout]

Ann: Thanks for your input. Because of the fog, the cast didn't seem to bother me much, but I did run a touch up with most of it removed. Preference?

Randy

[David Roach]

This unique view totally works for me. Love the fog, drop coming off bill, breath and of coarse the view of that eye. TFS

[annmpacheco]

Ann: Thanks for your input. Because of the fog, the cast didn't seem to bother me much, but I did run a touch up with most of it removed. Preference?

Randy

Thanks Randy, I think I see a slight less ? bluish cast on the whites... Still learning and trying adjustments so thanks for doing this so i can compare. I love the image.

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

Beautiful Image. Everything works really well.

Removing the bluish cast will be personal taste I guess. I would remove the same.

TFS

[John Mack]

Very nice. Like the fog and the breath of the loon. The tongue is great as well. Low angle is nice.

[Colin Driscoll]

I love mood shots like this, back light and all! Interesting problem posed by Ann. I don't know the bird so wondered what the problem might be, but looking it up I found that what I saw as light turquoise patches are actually white. This look like blue sky/shade effect. So I had a go at bringing them back to white. I think it spoils the mood a bit. Also took out a couple of white vertical streaks in the reflection. Hope you don't mind Randy.

[Randy Stout]

Colin:

Nice job neutralizing the whites. Always a balance I guess, of mood versus accuracy! The vertical streak in the water was from a drop of water on the top of the bird, thought it rather funny, but it is 'cleaner' without!

Thanks

Randy

[Jonathan Ashton]

Very nice indeed Randy, I too would look at the colours, I think you have a particularly interesting and different image here. I would also investigate the bird's exhaled breath tweaking it with Dehaze and Clarity (try 3 and 35 respectively as a starter), it really enhances the mood.

[William Dickson]

Excellent....I really like this Randy. Very atmospheric. I love the pose. I like the OP. Very nice work, well done. No nits here.

Will