Great-crested grebe

[Gordon McKechnie]

Just another of the selection of UK summer birds I have been trying to improve my technique on. All comments & critiques welcome. Particularly interested to know your views on pose & comp.

Canon 50D
100-400mm @ 400
f5.6
1/2000
ISO400
+0.67

[Lance Peters]

Hi Gordon - like the HA and the eye contact - cool red eye!!

Think it needs a little CW rotation, a touch of additional sharpening - also recropped - too much negative space at the bottom for my personal tastes -Couple of bright spots on the bill area that you could also tone down see if this looks any better to you.

keep them coming :)

[Alfred Forns]

Love the Grebe Gordon !!!!

Sure wish it had some more room up front and agree on taking a little off the bottom, maybe just a little less. Excellent exposure giving good shadow detail and keeping he neck area just fine !!!

btw on all these birds you want to work on the pupil, seems it always looks goofy Just darken a bit and will look fine ... even sharper !!! Excellent image !!!

[Gus Cobos]

Hi Gordon,
I like the capture, agree on more room to the front of this little guy...I like the head pose and eye contact...the feather details is good...looking forward to your next one...:cool:

[Harold Davis]

great exposure on a tough bird!! agree with the suggestions above.

lance's repost is really strong. i like it.

[CliveTonge]

Hi Gordon,
I think you are going to have to put in some time and effort to improve on getting a better base image. Next time you will have to catch it with a fish. :)
Thank you for sharing,
Clive

[Bob Miller]

I agree that more room is needed in front of the bird. As far as composition I would go with Al's suggestion.

[Tony Whitehead]

Great job, Gordon. That lens is working for you. Exp, focus look good. Comp wise, I agree with Lance's comments re negative space at the bottom. There seems to be some loss of fine detail in the plumage - was this a fair sized crop? Water droplets on the back look great but I think the bright areas on the face could be toned down as I think they have been exacerbated by sharpening for web.

[Gordon McKechnie]

Thanks, all. Tried to incorporate most of the suggestions. Now all I need is to arrange the fish!

(Tony - yes, thoroughly enjoying the lens!)