First Post

[John Wilkerson]

Oh here goes. First post. I am very new to bird photography. A lot of the things I've photographed in the past weren't alive. I'm thinking Loon but not sure. Photographed MS gulf coast in Bay St. Louis.
Great forum I have learned a lot already and haven't posted before now.
Nikon D200 with Nikon 200-400 Zoom with Nikon 1.4 extender 550mm for this photo.
f 5.6 @ 1/640th ISO 640 Aperture priority, meter center weighted, very overcast sky.
Photographed before I started reading here.

[Alfred Forns]

Hi John glad you got your feet wet and posted !!!!! Loon it is and a nice one I like the pose and head angle Would suggest to have a little more room in the direction the bird is facing (left) and would crop a bit top and bottom for proportion Exposure was right on and you picked great conditions A most for these birds !!!

Not sure what went on during processing but I think it lost something in the process Feathers look a bit funny

[George DeCamp]

Hi John!

Welcome to BPN, glad to have you on board!

Agree with Al on the items mentioned and I also love the water here, nice! A flash would have given you a nice catch light which brings the birds to life! Also looks like the feathers were run thru Noise Ninja or something similar?

A very good start and hope you will post more for us!

[John Wilkerson]

This is salt water inside two jetties at a boat launch on the Mississippi Sound. But I agree its one of the thing I like most about the photo. It was my first outing with a new lens. Don't really have a clue on the feathers. I made some minor adjustments as far as contrast and sharpened it a bit but thats it. But I agree the feathers don't look right. Thanks I am very anxious to learn from you guys.

[Don Lown]

John....
Nice photo of the common loon in non-breeding plumage. My suspicion about the feathers is that they were in flutter motion resulting in the water droplets flying off (the white spots). To me that adds to the photo rather than detracts. Nice shot.
This is my first time on this site, so it is a treat to see your photo.

[John Wilkerson]

He had been diving just prior to the capture.