Common Loon portrait

Hi all, Another loon from last weekend at a local lake...

Canon 1D MkIV, Canon 500 f/4 IS + 1.4x II, 1/1600sec, f/6.3, -2/3EV, handheld in kayak

Comments and critiques are very welcome...thanks for looking!

Cheers!
Bruce

Bruce"

Another beauty. Love the horizon in the eye, the tucked in pose, nice shooting angle, sharp and well exposed.

Just a bit tight in the frame, but very nice!

Cheers

Randy

Wow Bruce,
The thumbnail doesn't do this justice.
Love the way the water droplets splay out across the face.The single water droplet on the tip is lovely as well.
terrific detail and the iridescence shows well.
I would do another round of NR on the BG. I like the tight comp but think it would also look nice with a sliver (2%) more canvas on top and (2-4%) more on the left.
Gail

What Beauty , the droplets are are look like jewels of the bird....

Love the curved shape here!! Excellent job on the blacks and whites. Composition looks good, and as a 2:3 ratio with more on the left would be awesome too. The lily pad adds context to the habitat but I can't help wonder if it was not there. Love the water drops and details, very appealing image!!

Ditto everything Daniel said. That water droplet pattern formed on the head is just gorgeous!

Thank you all very much for your kind and helpful comments. The tight crop on the left is at least in part due to some laziness on my part, there are bits of somewhat messy vegetation just outside the frame, that I didn't want to try to clean up or to have distract from the details on the face of the bird.

Cheers!
Bruce

Great detail and portrait. I would agree that just a little more breathing room to the portrait, would be nice.

Wonderful close up shot.
Excellent details, love the head angle and the water drop is the icing on the cake.
A tad more would be nice, but still a gorgeous shot.
Well done.

Thank-you too, Minh and Robert for your comments.

Cheers!
Bruce