Running Start

[John Haig]

Photographed this Common Loon not long after sunrise at a small lake near my house in mid-July this year.

Image has been cropped from left and canvas added at the top, slight clockwise rotation....not sure about the reflection, thinking maybe it should be toned down.

Canon 40D, 300 4 IS with 1.4 extender, 1/1600 @ 5.6, ISO 400

[Danny J Brown]

Hi John - This is a fabulous shot and I wouldn't change a thing. You've brought out the details and textures expertly, in my opinion, and well exemplified the beauty of this wonderful creature. I love all the splashing water and the reflections seem natural to me. Oh, and of course that red eye.........

[Sabyasachi Patra]

I like the pose and the water splash. A higher shutter speed would have been even better. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Great takeoff pose, sharpness and angle. I might tone down the highlights on the neck a bit and wish the brown spot in the BG behind the near wing were not there.

[Randy Stout]

John:

Fine capture of my favorite bird. Excellent angle, both shooting and bird in frame. For this bird , a superb job on the exposure. Nice to see the green sheen beneath the necklace.

Looks like some subtle sharpening artifacts where head merges with rear wing.

I agree about he reflection, might try lowering the brightness 15 or so points compared with bird, but overall this is excellent as is.

Can you share your shooting setup? With this short combo, you obviously were in close. They normally hate to take off towards people unless the wind angle gives them no choice.

Cheers

Randy

[John Haig]

Thanks everyone..Sabyasachi, I agree that a higher shutter speed would have been better, probably would have stopped the wing tips...Axel, point taken on the highlights and that darned brown spot...Murphy's Law of background objects strikes again (which states that the most distracting element will always be directly behind one of the most detailed parts of the subject)
Randy, thanks for noticing the sharpening artifacts...I sometimes get a little bug-eyed looking at loon plumage and missed it.
My shooting set up is very straightforward. I have a very small boat (Coleman Crawdad) that I sit on the floor of. I run a small Minn Kota electric motor at the stern. I hand hold for everything while in the boat. The loons in our area are so used to people that they pretty much ignore any human activity unless they have young with them. This particular lake isn't used for breeding but is surrounded on all sides by larger lakes that are. A dozen or more loons gather at dawn every morning for a "coffee klatsch" that lasts for an hour or more. I just drift around the center of the lake and occasionally change direction with the birds. They essentially ignore me, and I often have several swimming around and beneath the boat at any given time.

[Jim Crosswell]

This is a real beauty John! I really like the action you captured here.

[Doug Brown]

Beautiful capture John! I agree with the good points made above. Thanks for the interesting background info.

[stuart wanuck]

very well done action good and oh that red eye!

[Suzanne Huot]

One impressive catch and not seen to often,love the way nifty camera work in catching that foot leaving the water in the take off roll

[Arthur Morris]

I gasped when this one opened. The SH, the running pose, and the splash are outstanding. The framing is perfect. The eye could use a bit of Eye Doctor work. And you might try reducing the yellow in the white breast (with a Selective Color adjustment).

[Roger Lauzon]

Bonjour John,

great shot , I also like to shoot loon on the lake where I live. Great light and good timing for this shot.

Roger

[Ralph R. Roberts]

Sir,
I rarely comment on posts. This is outstanding! Perfection in impact and technique. Thanks for sharing

[Harshad Barve]

Spectacular image , pose, water splash and details are too good
TFS

[James Salywoda]

This is an excellent shot of this Loon taking off well done john.

[Krijn Trimbos]

The eye could be a bit sharper. Apart from that this is excellent! Love the take off pose, the perfect exposure, BG, take off angle, splash and colours! Excellent shot!

[Mike Lentz]

I agree 100% with Artie on this one. A wonderful image you have here sir!

[Brian Sartor]

One of my favorite subjects and this is one of the best action images of a loon I've seen. Wonderful color, clarity and exposure. The take-off angle and low shooting perspective are perfect!

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Outstanding for sure and one of the best I have seen of this species. Excellent timing, action, exposure and detail. A real winner and big congrats John.

[Chris van Rooyen]

John this is superb, light, posture, sharpness, action, background - all 100%

[Varun Bellie]

WOW, What an action in such great quality. This shows to me that it's not just the equipment, it's the one who's behind it. Thanks for sharing