PDA

View Full Version : Red Necked Grebe with Chicks


Mike Veltri
06-26-2009, 05:12 AM
A photo taken at a local marina close to home. I don't really care for the water in this shot, but it is a shot I had hoped to get with one chick on each side of mom with good eye contact from all three. There are lots of reflections from the masts of the sail boats, and white railings. C&C welcomed.

http://www.pbase.com/mikeveltri/image/114011931.jpg

Canon 1D MarkIII
Canon 500mm F/4 IS
Canon 1.4x II
1/1600s
F/6.3
ISO 400

Thanks for looking
Mike Veltri
Daniel Cadieux
06-26-2009, 06:34 AM
This is quite cute Mike. All three head angles are good, and the exposure spot on. I do find the image slightly oversharpened (halo along top of bill and head, and the breast feathers have the "scrunchy" look). I would also enhnce the highlight on the right chick's eye, and apply a small CW rotation as the image is leaning slightly down to the left.
Arthur Morris
06-26-2009, 06:46 AM
Water shmorter. This has the potential to be a great image with better image optimization. Killer cuteness and head angles. Agree with Dan on all of the above; he is good. In addition, a bit lighter on midtones would help.

Could you have gotten lower? Where is home?
Randy Stout
06-26-2009, 07:01 AM
Mike:

I took a second to try and help with your water. Toned down the brightness so it doesn't compete so much with the bird for our attention. Per Daniel, did a slight rotation. I also reduced the contrast just a smidge. I also sharpened the eye on the left chick a bit as its head is a bit soft.

Just an option for you. The chicks are great. Love the stripes!

Randy

PS: I was working on it while Artie was commenting. In reviewing it, I agree that the midtones could come up.
Axel Hildebrandt
06-26-2009, 07:34 AM
The curious poses of the two chicks makes this one for me, it definitely has the cute factor. Good suggestions by Daniel and repost by Randy. I'm sure it would be easier to start from the TIFF file. Thanks for sharing!
David Thomasson
06-26-2009, 01:46 PM
Definitely a winner with those little heads peeping out in opposite directions. It's a fairly simple matter to even out the background reflections.
Maybe important is to pull a little more detail out of Mama's feathers.

http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/4053/grebechicks2.jpg
Mike Veltri
06-26-2009, 04:18 PM
Water shmorter. This has the potential to be a great image with better image optimization. Killer cuteness and head angles. Agree with Dan on all of the above; he is good. In addition, a bit lighter on midtones would help.

Could you have gotten lower? Where is home?

Home is Oakville, Ontario. Every year tires are put out in the marina for the grebes to nest. It has been a couple of years since they had chicks. The are about twenty feet out, and the shore line is man made with placed quarry rock. And I was as low as I could get.

Thanks Artie
Mike Veltri
06-26-2009, 04:24 PM
Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I have many images of these guys, and I only wished the water had of been more blue on this particular day. I did not put in a lot of time on this one, but will most likely re-edit in the future.
Karl Egressy
06-27-2009, 01:22 PM
Looks great Mike. The two litte ones are real cuties.
Gyorgy Szimuly
06-29-2009, 12:33 PM
It's a fairly simple matter to even out the background reflections.
Maybe important is to pull a little more detail out of Mama's feathers.

David, would you just describe what you did with the bg in PS?

Mike, I love it as is. The bg is not distracting that much to me. Lovely pose on all of the birds.

Szimi