Red-necked Phalarope (juvenile).

[Daniel Cadieux]

Here's just a regular profile image of this beautiful bird. We get a better look at the juvie plumage. There was only about three inches of water here, but this individual was about 20 yards from shore...I got nice and wet for the low angle. With the air temperature at about 50 degrees early in the morning plus a strong north wind the water, which was warmer than that, actually felt pretty good. Excpet when I got back up!

Canon 7D + 100-400L @400mm, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/1600s., f/7.1, ISO 400, natural light, handheld, cropped for composition (this guy never stopped moving and turning!!).

[gail bisson]

Another lovely image. I love the comp, body position and the waves in the silky smooth water. I like the fluffed up feathers as well. Are you trying to get the rest of us BPN'ers into your version of "Extreme Avian Photography" or "Iron Man Avian Photography":t3?Do you have a wetsuit?
Gail

[Richard Stern]

Hi Daniel,

A beautiful image, with good head angle, feather detail, and great water effect. I'm envious, as even though I have seen hundreds of these on pelagic trips into the outer Bay of Fundy, they always fly off as the boat approaches and I have never been that close. Nearly all the ones we see are adults in, or molting into, basic plumage at this time of year.

Richard

[Daniel Cadieux]

Gail, you're giving me some ideas here!!:bg3: I do not have a wetsuit, but I do bring a towel and a change of clothes in the car.

Richard, this individual swam right up to my lens, and stuck its' bill inside my lens hood...I'm pretty sure it was checking out the reflection in the glass...unbelievable experience to have this fella two feet away from me for so long (at eye level too!!) It also made me realize how small this species actually is.

[Randy Stout]

Daniel:

Lovely bird, excellent techs, like the raised wings, fine details along the side.

Plus, the BG is really nice and clean, without any distractions :bg3:

Fine capture. Your wife probably appreciates that at least this time you rinsed the mud off your clothes!

Cheers

Randy

[Luis Villablanca]

Very nice image. Love the low angle view.
Good job tracking this bird. They really move around a lot.

[Aidan Briggs]

Hey Dan, great low angle, profile pose, and HA. Nice blue water too! I know how you feel about being cold and wet after getting up.

Well done as always.

[Arthur Morris]

Well earned and executed. These guys can be very tame.

[Raymond Barlow]

Sweet shot Daniel, the blues are really well done.

[arash_hazeghi]

Excellent Dan love the light, pose and details

[Karl Egressy]

Great shooting angle, head angle and great details. Nicely done and presented, Daniel.

[Stu Bowie]

Hey Dan, you seem to have these guys sorted with regards to fine poses, and low angles. Excellent HA in this, and just love the blue of the water. Well captured.

[Pieter de Waal]

Hi Daniel , good low angle with nice feather detail. Like the colour and texture of the water. Wonderful experience to have that interaction with the little fellow.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Really nice Daniel. I really like the feathers that are blowing upward and the water movement really adds a plus. Hmmm a towel and change of clothes now that's an idea I should consider.

[Ofer Levy]

Simple but nice. Interestingly the eye looks different than the eye in the photo of the same species a few threads up. (maybe a different species after all...:w3)

[Arthur Morris]

Ofer, Same species. It is likely that Dan had lightened the iris while Aidan did not..... Interesting to compare the size of the bird in the frame in the two images..... While we all strive to fill the frame and to get closer the smaller in the frame image has more impact for me (with no disrespect intended towards Dan or his very fine image here).

Ofer, on a totally unrelated note, are you familiar with the American baseball term, "taking an oh-fer"? As in, "He went oh for five today."

[Daniel Cadieux]

No worries Artie, no disrespect taken....besides, more often than not I prefer my birds smaller in the frame too.:S3:

As for the eye, yes I did lighten the iris as in with most of my images. I think that is Ofer's way of saying he prefers no touch ups to the eye, as he's been hinting on with a few of my images lately (Ofer, I appreciate your honesty and input.)

[Arthur Morris]

Good. You know what I think of you as a photographer.

With no disrespect to Ofer, failing to lighten the iris on many species especially those with white in the plumage results in inaccurate eye color. Why? When we are properly exposing for the WHITEs we are actually underexposing the midtones by one full stop (and the dark tones by almost two full stops).... See John Shaw's "Sunny f/22" or Exposure Theory in ABP (https://store.birdsasart.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=16). :S3:

[Ofer Levy]

Good. You know what I think of you as a photographer.

With no disrespect to Ofer, failing to lighten the iris on many species especially those with white in the plumage results in inaccurate eye color. Why? When we are properly exposing for the WHITEs we are actually underexposing the midtones by one full stop (and the dark tones by almost two full stops).... See John Shaw's "Sunny f/22" or Exposure Theory in ABP (https://store.birdsasart.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=16). :S3:

I have never seen this bird in real life yet I can tell that the eye doesn't look natural after "doctoring". I think that selective brightening of the eye should be done very carefully or else the eye will look "doctored". In many plover species, Pied Kingfishers and other birds the eyes are dark brown to black but in some images it looks light brown because of this "doctoring".

[Arthur Morris]

I know the bird and the eye does not at all look doctored to me.