Common Loon.

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.

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

Beautiful loon shot. Fantastic image quality. I like the low angle, the water drops, head angle and the composition.

Markus

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!!!!

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.

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.

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?

excellent low angle, pose and details. I would also go pano crop and add a tad more space behind the tail

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!

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.

A nice shot!
I agree with the comments above re: pano crop more room on left.
IQ excellent as usual,
Gail

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.

Great pose and setting you have here.

excellent POV & pose. details & exp are superb.

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.

Otherwise, I'm enjoying your series of Loons!

Miguel