Juvenile Coot

[Ron Sprunger]

Taken July 24th at the Jordan River ponds near my home. The only reason I could get within 50 meters is that an adult was chasing all the juvies my way. A lower position probably would have been better, but a) I don't get down very well, and b) these guys beat it when I move. C&C most welcome.

Nikon D7000, 200-400 f/4, 1.7x, 650mm, distance 29.9 m
f/16, 1/200, ISO 500
This is about a 35% crop, with 2.5 CW rotation to line up reflection with bird.

100991

[gail bisson]

Ron,
This is a great shot. The reflection is very nice, as is the wake around the bird. Excellent exposure on the blacks and great IQ. My only nit is the vegetation. I would crop a bit off the left to get rid of the first clump of reeds and clone out the rest as I find it takes my eye away from the bird.
Gail

[Arthur Morris]

Nicely done and handled in what looks like relatively harsh light. Ideal would have been to shift the lens to your right so as to include more of the wake and just the first two long stalks....

[Ron Sprunger]

How about this crop?

101028

[Ron Sprunger]

Or maybe better as a pano?

101029

[Arthur Morris]

I thought that I would like the pano better but with the curved reflection at the top I actually prefer the image in Pane 4. Great that you had the REFL behind the bird.

[Ron Sprunger]

Artie, thanks for taking the time. I like the curve too, but I'm not sure I like the balance. Sigh. Just trying to take a very plain, technically good image and make something presentable of it. I'll try again sometime. Just hoping I can start getting lower on some of these in the near future.

[Arthur Morris]

YAW and good plan. If you cannot lie flat sitting is a good option. See "Why Sit Down on the Job?" here (http://www.birdsasart-blog.com/2011/06/11/why-sit-down-on-the-job/) for more on that.