Courting Great crested grebes

Tripod Canon 7D Canon 500mm f4 & 1.4TC Mk1 ISO 320 -0.3, 1/1600 sec f5.6
All comments welcome.

Jonathan i have always like seeing your GCG shots nice details but it needs a bit of CW
I still have not got a close shot of the ones down here in Aus well done

Great courting shot of these Grebes. Both have nice HAs and the crest flared out by the one on the right, male? is beautiful. Nicely exposed and clear detail. Well done

Lovely timing and great opportunity, liking the glassy water ...my only thought was the bird on the left could do with a little more sharpening on the head

I too just love your courting images of these beauties. I wonder if this image needs a tiny CCW rotation. Love the colors poses and great detail

wonderful! I really like how the water is clear in the front. So often it seems there is a strip of blur in front.

Excellent image,Jonathan.Great HA'S,nice lights and composition.
Love the poses of both,crest,eyes,BG and water rings.

Regards,
Satish.

Great interaction & shooting angle. Excellent IQ.

Wow nice image, i am still to see this behaviour in here, i have seen these birds but mostly in non breeding
i like the image very much, agree that the one behind may take a bit more of sharpening

about the rotation, i am a bit confused with others comments, i agree that the line above the birds has a downward slant however the bird on the right appears to be perfectly straight, in terms of the birds i do not think i would like the rotation at all, it looks good as presented.

i am still looking at this one

Wonderful action, beautiful colors on birds and BG. Yes to a tad more USM on the left bird. As to rotation, my first impression was that just a tiny bit of CCW might help, but looking twice, I think it's about right as shown. Beautiful image.

Hi Jon, good DOF to show both in perfect focus, as well as both well exposed too. The feather detail shows up nicely, and although the rotation looks fine as presented, I would try a version with a touch of CCW rotation. Knowing you, you have tried that already. :w3

Thanks very much everyone, regarding rotation, I use a self Gitzo self leveling head with the Gitzo 3530 LS, the bubble was as near to dead central as I could see.

Excellent interaction picture, Jinathan.

Lovely timing and great shooting angle.