The Common Loon is what got me started with birding at a young age, and of course birding is what got me into bird photography...so the loon holds a special place in my heart as my very favorite species of bird. Although they are present at the lake where my folks' cottage is, I don't often have the time to go out in pursuit of them...but I did manage an outing earlier this week. The paddle boat at the cottage is quite big and rather than a large hump at the front it has a flat "hood" that I use to lay across to achieve the low angle once in position.
Canon 7D + 500mm f/4 II + 1.4TC, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/200s., f/6.3, ISO 800, natural light, handheld, cropped for comp (about 85% FF), darkened pupil, a few whitish specks on the neck spot-tooled out, bluish cast on the body removed via hue/saturation (using the blue channel only). NR to BG and FG.
08-21-2013, 03:32 PM
Randy Stout
Daniel:
Well, you know how I feel about loons, so always happy to view folks images of them. They are magical creatures.
Nice erect pose, head angle, subdued colors. I favor pano crops for loons in this pose, so might crop a bit off the top, which will also give the illusion of a lower shooting angle.
I will look at it again on my home monitor!
Cheers
Randy
08-21-2013, 03:36 PM
Markus Jais
Beautiful loon shot. Fantastic image quality. I like the low angle, the water drops, head angle and the composition.
Markus
08-21-2013, 03:53 PM
Karl Egressy
This is a very beautiful picture, Daniel.
Love everything about it; the pose, head turn, eye contact, beautiful water and the little water beads on the head.
Just great!!!!
08-21-2013, 04:30 PM
Lyle Gruby
Beautiful, IQ is great. Looks like the overcast day helped control the dynamic range of the bird. I'd like to see a crop in from the top and a little more room on the bottom if you have it.
08-21-2013, 07:02 PM
Steve Zamek
A stunning image Daniel. I like the mood created by the dark tones of the bird and background. As mentioned by others, I would consider cropping a bit off the top. And did you have any room behind he bird? If so, my preference would be to give a bit more room there.
08-21-2013, 10:17 PM
Arthur Morris
Sweet bird, sweet light, super sharp. If you twisted my arm, I would wish for a bit more room behind the bird. Mazel tov on the new lens. How long have you had it?
08-22-2013, 01:49 AM
arash_hazeghi
excellent low angle, pose and details. I would also go pano crop and add a tad more space behind the tail
08-22-2013, 06:44 AM
Daniel Cadieux
Thanks a bunch guys! I'll take a look at the cropping options....
Artie, thanks, I've had the lens now since April...I could not be happier with!
08-22-2013, 12:27 PM
Stu Bowie
Hi Dan, I do like the 'erect' neck pose, and overall well exposed and sharp. Their lovely red eyes always stand out against the darker plumage, and another vote for some space behind.
08-22-2013, 06:43 PM
gail bisson
A nice shot!
I agree with the comments above re: pano crop more room on left.
IQ excellent as usual,
Gail
08-23-2013, 11:43 AM
Juan Carlos Vindas
A magic species!
Sharp, with excelent details, nice ''proud'' posture and with marvelous light. Great to know you are having fun with your new lens, I recently jump and bought a 600 V1.
08-24-2013, 01:52 AM
Frank Schauf
Great pose and setting you have here.
08-24-2013, 05:16 AM
Girish Prahalad
excellent POV & pose. details & exp are superb.
08-25-2013, 05:48 PM
Miguel Palaviccini
Coming in a bit late on this one, but if you have the room behind I might take a look at a version with it. 16:9 would be my crop of choice.