Splash down Pied-billed Grebe.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Got a bit lucky with this one as I was concentrated on one of its siblings (the one I posted earlier). I was using manual exposure as the birds would often swim from dark green waters to brightly lit waters such as here. Well, manual certainly saved me here as the one I was photographing was indeed in the dark green stuff when this guy landed to my left. I quickly twisted myself to the left and took two photos (this one being the first). Manual ensured a perfect exposure despite the huge difference on the scene's brightness. With no time to adjust settings, having been in AV (which I use 80% of the time) would have proved disastrous.

I do wish the body wasn't "gliding" away, but I feel there is just enough eye contact to salvage the image.

Canon 40D + 100-400L @350mm, Manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/200s., f/7.1, ISO 800, natural light, handheld, slight crop for composition (about 80% full-frame)

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w98/dancad/tn_Pied-billedGrebe_5504-01.jpg

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the eye contact, angle and particularly the splash behind the bird. I might crop this as a pano.

[Ramon M. Casares]

I agree that the eye contact make this one owrk fine :) I wolud only suggest to tone down the ambient a bit as everything else to me looks very nice. Great action shot.
Congratulations!

[Sinh Nhut Nguyen]

I like the action of this image, especially the motion blur of the wing. I think the eye contact and head angle are very good.

[Ryan Lambert]

Good action captured here and sharp where it counts. The image could do with a bit of saturation imo...congrats on getting the image

[Jay Gould]

Daniel, I think this Grebe did a splash down pose for you: head and neck up and arched, wings perfectly up and and allowing it to settle into the water, just enough speed to create a nice wake, and good reflection. You nailed it! I too think you might consider a pano. Good capture!! Thanks for sharing this one with us.

[Dave Barnes]

Action very well capture Daniel.

[Steve Maxson]

Grebes seldom fly so you were quite fortunate to capture this image - and you did it very well. The pose and sharpness look great to me. I agree that a pano crop would work well here as an alternative. You might consider selecting the water and darkening it a little. Well done.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Dan, this certainly shows the sense of motion. It looks like you wound him up like clockwork, and off he went. I like the the look on the face, and would maybe take a bit off the top and bottom.

[Gal Shon]

Good action, I love the splash
Don't think that 1/200 is enough,and would like some more room in the front