Protective parent

[Mike Lentz]

This Common Loon was cruising on by with her baby, content to keep a snails pace, but all the time staying between her baby and me.

http://www.pbase.com/mike_lentz/image/109247109.jpg

Nikon D200 ~ Nikkor 300mm F/2.8 Nikon 1.4x TC
ISO 400 ~ F/5.6 ~ 1/1000 sec ~ (yep, F/9 would have been nice) :)

[Randy Stout]

Mike:

Great head angle on mom, good on chick. I like the pose overall, gives you the sense of protection. The mom looks like she is really watching you carefully. F/9 would have helped with the chick being sharper, but the background might become more bothersome.

Good overall exposure, maybe the tiniest bit hot on breast, nice to see the faint green sheen on head.

I might be tempted to eliminate the reed in front of the chick. Bit more canvas in front would be nice too.

Is this from this years hatch? Our Michigan loons won't be hatched for another week or so I think.

Thanks for sharing these beauties. Gets me fired up for our loon season.

Randy

[Daniel Cadieux]

A real beauty Mike! Love the included habitat, just enough of it. Perfect exposure on the blacks, and the whites look good too...although close to hot (on the breast) they look just as I see them out in the wild. I wouldn't mind more room behind for the tail, and then adding a bit in front to re-balance the new comp. I'd also be tempted to eliminate, or tone down, the blade of grass in front of the bills. Have you tried selectively adding another round of sharpening to the baby? It will most likely not bring it as sharp as mother but should at least bridge the gap somewhat.

[Don Thompson]

I can't add to what has already been except to say it is beautiful.

Our loon season in Indiana last a few weeks during their migration north, and without little ones.

[Stu Bowie]

Mike, your low angle works once again. Superb exposure on the mom, especially on the head, showing those greens and browns. I would say the white on the chest is borderline. I think the chick is further away than one thinks, thus closing down may not have helped that much. Did you blur the BG, but I like it as presented.

[Steve Maxson]

Another beautiful pose and exposure, Mike. The blacks and whites are hard to handle on these guys. This must be from last year (?) - that chick looks several weeks old. :) Our loons are not halfway through incubation yet. Adding a little room on the right for the submerged tail would be good, if you have it. I'm OK with the habitat, as presented. The eye of the adult looks a bit glassy - mostly due to the large catchlights and the indistinct pupil (on the other hand, that's how loon eyes often look in reality).

[Mike Lentz]

I like that idea about getting rid of the one reed out front! Thanks! :)
It was last years pic, just getting revved up for this spring. It was taken on June 18th.
They will start popping out around Memorial weekend in this part of the country.
With the D200 I wasn't keen on ramping up the ISO and sometimes limited my DOF decisions based on that. Now with the D300 I would be shooting an image like this at ISO 800 possibly at F/9 or so depending on SS.

[Ramon M. Casares]

Great comments above, I just want to say I loved it, great light, BG/ambient, poses, expsire and natural moment. Congratulations!