Western Grebe

[kevin Hice]

Shot in Nd slough processed with Dpp 4,Photoshop Topaz noise. Comments and critiques appreciated . Comments on the previous post appreciated. This one had a slight blue cast that I toned down. Thought about a different crop some off the top and bottom would work well also.
Canon R3
RF 600mm f/4 L
840mm
M 5.6
1/1000
ISO 5000

[David Pugsley]

May just be me, but the chopped head reflection bothers me. I'd be tempted to crop more from the bottom. Alternatively you could recreate the whole head reflection, add some canvas to the bottom and then reevaluate the crop.

[Randy Stout]

Kevin: the low shooting angle caused the distorted reflection, but overall It is quite striking. I would vote to crop to just above the darker bill reflection with a balancing crop from above. Could soften the neck reflection at the frame edge a bit to reduce its tendency to draw the eye out of the frame. Striking image.

Randy

[Paul Burdett]

Hi Kevin. I really like this image, but agree with David's comment regarding the reflection. However, I'm a little envious here, as I've been shooting Great Crested Grebes here in Brisbane recently and they never seem to get close enough (although I did get a few recently). This one is beautiful...nice and sharp (love that eye) and I really like the pastel colours here.

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Kevin,

Love the arty feel of this frame, very nice work in the field! Great point of view and lovely pose from the subject, well framed, perfect head angle - bird looks so elegant!

This might not be to your liking so please forgive me for 'borrowing' your image, thought I'd try another version with less blue and more 'punch', a tad more detail in those neck feathers - just my take and not sure how close to real life...:tinysmile_shy_t:

Hope you have a lovely week-end,

Kind regards,