Red-necked Phalarope water play.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Here's one I just finished from my encounter with this local rarity this past fall. I liked the water play from the drops and wavelets, plus the open bill :-) Very tame little guy, image is almost full-frame horizontally at 235mm.

Canon 7D + 100-400L @235mm, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/1000s., f/8, ISO 400, natural light. Small OOF insect and a small misplaced drop both removed via spot removal tool. The two vertical white lines n the reflectio toned down via 30% opacity clone tool.

[Randy Stout]

Daniel:

Another nice one from that encounter. Love the large drops on back, low angle, open bill with drop between the mandibles, sharp and well exposed.

Cheers

Randy

[Bill Dix]

Very nicely captured. Great pose, especially if this was captured mid-spin. Love the open bill, the water drops on the back. Lovely shot.

[Grace Scalzo]

OK...this might be the most ridiculously picky critique that I've ever offered, but.....I would remove the highlight on top of the drop on his back. For the simple reason that if you printed this stunningly beautiful image, that would look like a flaw in the printing. It's a super subject, super well photographed. I particularly love the depression caused by his (or her?) spinning. Open bill, eye contact, it's all there.

[Dan Behm]

Daniel,
Excellent Image, The details and exposure are stunning, The parted mandible and surrounding water really adds greatly to this image. I also like the angle of the bird to you with perfect head angle. I cannot help but wonder what this would look like at 3x2 with the reflection entact, I realize the reflection is weak do to the action taking place but still seems I want to visualize it. Always easy to ponder when not knowing the entire image as the viewer. I too would agree with Grace's observation on the water droplet. however all that said, I love it just as presented. Your extremely capable with the 100-400! Great work!

Dan

[Stu Bowie]

Super low angle Dan, and just love the saucer of water. Good angle on the phalarope, sharp, and the colour of the water shows up nicely. Of course, the droplet on the back puts this over the top.

[Daniel Cadieux]

OK...this might be the most ridiculously picky critique that I've ever offered, but.....I would remove the highlight on top of the drop on his back. For the simple reason that if you printed this stunningly beautiful image, that would look like a flaw in the printing.

Thanks Grace foir pointing that out. Actually, sometimes it's the subtle stuff like that which needs to be pointed out to make a good image great...there is nothing than can be too picky when done honestly IMO, especially backed with excellent reasoning as you did! An easy fix that will be corrected for sure:S3:

[Karl Egressy]

Stunning image, Daniel. The low angle, open beak and especially the water droplets put this image over the top.

[arash_hazeghi]

great love the low angle and water drops

[Josh Clark]

Wow. What a fantastic shot this is for so many reason. Great behavior shot you captured here. Very playful looking image. Amazing the two big water beads on his back and side. The ripples created from the action around him are interesting as well. That blueness of the water is fantastic too. Well cropped as well, love it.

[Robert Holguin]

Wow!!! Stunning image, excellent shooting angle, great pose with the perfect head angle, love the water drops on its back, and the waves being created.
Well done.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Daniel, there is nothing much left for me to add. liked all the things others have mentioned above. good point by Grace.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Love it. The water movement and drops are so nice and I like the open bill too.

[Tom Rambaut]

Lovley image.Like it all. Dito what others have said. Being this tame and the clean water and perfect plumage you could spend all day taking images of the one bird.

[Ofer Levy]

Nicely done indeed!

[Lesley van Loo]

nice shot, the drops on its back are indeed very cool.
indeed this are very tame birds but also very busy and therefore difficult to photograph.