Horned Grebe M Non-Breeding Pl.

[Sharon Hallowell]

Found 1 male and 2 females today at Peace Valley. The light was awful, and I could not get any lower, but my subjects were very cooperative and I was thrilled to have found them as this is my first sighting of these cute little divers with funny eyes! My first post...I would appreciate comments and criticism. Thanks for looking!
Canon XTi; 100-400 w/1.4 ext; Manual exp;Iso200;WBcloudy;SS1/400;F8

[Ed Vatza]

Welcome.

I know these Grebes well having spent a couple of hours yesterday morning with them. So I can commiserate with you regarding the lighting (I have yet to find a great angle there) and the difficulty (near impossibility) with trying to get low off of the bridge.

I am far from the person who should be critiquing your image but I will say that it looks a bit soft to me particularly around the bill and to some extent the back. Maybe its just me. It also would have been nice (and remember I know what you had to deal with) to be able to catch some light in the eye. With the light just right the red in the eye radiates rather than looking a bit flat. Believe me, most of my images from yesterday had the same eye as yours.

If you are interested, scroll about half way down the page and you should find ("Horned Grebe"). That's one of my efforts from yesterday.

Take care and enjoy!