Hoary-headed Grebe (Poliocephalus poliocephalus)

Hi all, this young grebe was taken at Mill Park Lakes Vic, Aus..
5d mk iii, 500mm mk ii, 1.4 x iii, iso 1600, 1/2000, f/6.3 ev +0.3
crop, sharpen, lowered highlights, color tint..
Attachment 140236
Cheers,
Merv

great subject, detail and presentation. A bit to bright though... ?!?!

Hi, thanks for the feedback, I put this through detail extracter in color efex, and reduced highlights..
all feedback welcome..
Attachment 140242

Cheers,
Merv

What a cutie-pie!!! Love the eye and all the feather details, esp against such a smooth BG. I would go for this if it were mine in terms of brightness.

Very sweet image I do not like the second repost at all does not look natural for several reasons, Marina,s repost is the way I would present the image if it were mine.

Hi Marina, thanks for the feedback, yeah I have a habit of going to dark on my images and am always told to brighten them up, I guess it will take a while before I get it right!
Cheers, it looks great at that level of brightness.
Merv

I like the eye-to-eye level.

Marina's repost looks as natural as I can envisage. Don't know why the OP looks so bright.